Crash Bandicoot: The Curse of the Crystals
by Okura
Summary: A rare occurance is to befall Crash's world, and it shall never be the same again... Will Cortex finally succeed in harnessing the source of all Power Crystals and rule the ultimate power of the universe? Chapter Twenty Five is here...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One Trouble in Paradise

A gentle breeze blew through the air, rustling the leaves in the trees and sending the scent of the wumpa fruit floating upon the air, and out to sea. The soft lapping of the waves upon the sandy shores of the N. Sanity beach mingled with the cawing of the gulls above as they dived for scraps of food.  
Everything was peaceful and calm…  
Except for the loud, raucous snoring.  
Lounging out on a deckchair under the shade of a large sun umbrella, black sunglasses wrapped around his head and headphones hanging around his neck, was Crash Bandicoot. The heroic marsupial was enjoying his time off, since the last time Dr. Neo Cortex was vanquished, and had little else to do than laze about in the sunshine.  
Dozing alongside him, was his friends; Polar, the polar bear cub, who rolled about in his sleep, sand clinging to his white fur. Pura, the tiger cub, who often had his legs suddenly erupt into a spasm of kicking in his slumber. And finally Tina, the tyrannosaur hatchling, whom basked in the warm sunshine, allowing her scaly skin to heat up considerably.  
Everything was peaceful in the late morning sunlight…  
Then, a cry broke the silence. "Help"  
"Hmm?" Crash murmured in his sleep, before drifting back into sleep.  
"Help! Someone please help me!" the voice called again.  
This time, Crash sat up, giving a huge yawn and stretching his arms high. "What's up this time…" he groaned to himself as he pulled the sunglasses from his face and glanced about, for the source of the voice.  
Tina yawned, exposing her huge sharp fangs, as Pura stretched his limbs. Polar remained sleeping in the sunlight. "Who gave the distress call?" Pura asked, blinking as he explored the jungle.  
"Not in the jungle," Tina pointed with her stubby forearms. "Out there"  
Glancing to where Tina pointed, Crash noticed out in the nearby surf, a dolphin was jumping from the waves, and crying out, "Help me! Someone please help"  
Cupping his paws around his mouth, Crash called out to the frantic dolphin, "Hey out there! What's up"  
In an instant, the dolphin turned and shot towards the beach. Within seconds, the dolphin had beached itself in front of them, panicking. Chattering away, she cried, "Please, you must help me! My children were playing a game together and then suddenly this great beast came and swept them away in a net! Please… You must help me get them back"  
"Ok, ok…" Crash nodded as he knelt beside the dolphin. "Calm down. What did this beast look like"  
The dolphin, panting in exhaustion, answered, "It was a large grey creature. It was furry and very strong. It didn't seem to be very smart though"  
"Koala Kong," Tina suggested, upon hearing the description. "Sounds exactly like him"  
"Please…" the dolphin gasped.  
"Sure thing," Crash smiled. "I'll help find them… err"  
"Gleam…" the dolphin answered. "My name is Gleam. My children are Delphi and Spot. Spot is my… 'adopted'… son. Please find them"  
"You two," Crash pointed at Pura and Tina. "Get Gleam back into the water. Trusting Kong, he will now be considering what to do next. That gives me roughly half an hour before he figures out that he should return to Castle Cortex"  
"It happened down there…" Gleam tilted her head to the west. "My children were playing with their new toy and this creature took them… Please"  
"Find them… I know…" Crash chuckled. "Right, I'm off. You two get her back into the water," Crash ordered the two animals, before he turned on his sneakers and broke into a sprint down the beach.  
He had to admit a bit though; this would be a bit more fun than simply napping in the sun…

"Nine hundred and ninety three… Nine hundred and ninety four… Nine hundred and ninety five…" the voice echoed throughout the silence of the Lost City.  
In a small clearing of the ruins and pillars, a training ground lay. Heavy weights and various other exercise machines lay scattered across the tattered ruins. Among them, a thick, bulky bandicoot counted as he continued to do one-handed press-ups. His metal gauntlet hand was behind his back as he continued the press-ups.  
Crunch Bandicoot, an ally to Crash and Coco, but not a sibling. Crunch had once been Cortex's servant, before Crash and Coco freed him from his mind control that Cortex had inflicted upon him.  
A tall, buff body, Crunch was obsessed with keeping in shape, hence his secret hideaway in the Lost City, where he could train. The training was for two reasons; first to keep in shape, the other so that Crunch could remain as strong as ever, to beat his rival; Tiny Tiger.  
"Nine hundred and ninety nine… One thousand…" Crunch hauled himself over, flexing his arm. "Alright… two minute break, then a thousand more on the other arm"  
Resting for a few minutes, Crunch glanced over to his power source. A small generator, powering the lights and machines, continued to chug along, eternally powered by a Power Crystal within the glass casing at the top.  
Power Crystals were very rare gems and housed incredible powers within them. Even now, the machines that Coco and Nitrus Brio built to harness the energies were barely tapping the true powers of the crystals. It was also the reason was it was important that Cortex and his men did not collect all the crystals and use their powers for destructive purposes.  
Turning away, Crunch panted a little from his workout. A thousand more press-ups, then a thousand sit-ups and he'd call it a day.  
Suddenly, there was a shattering sound from the generator. Snapping his head back, Crunch noticed that the crystal was gone. "What!" he bellowed, clenching his fists in anger.  
"Really my dear Bandicoot," sneered a voice from behind. "Animals such as your-selves have no right to mess with the powers of such things as the Power Crystals… I on the other hand, have all the time in the world"  
Snarling as he turned, Crunch growled, "N. Tropy… What right do you have to come poking around in MY training grounds, and steal MY crystal"  
The Master of Time sneered, as his bio-mechanical suit chugged along, the clock pieces continuing to spin and distort time. The blue face of N. Tropy stared down at Crunch through his nose, as he clutched the Power Crystal in one hand. "Well my dear Bandicoot… Animals such as your-self own no such land… These islands belong to that fool Neo"  
Giving a roar, Crunch charged at N. Tropy, drawing back his metal fist, ready to deliver a strong blow to the doctor. Throwing the punch, Crunch suddenly struck thin air, as N. Tropy warped away.  
There was a sharp blow from behind and Crunch gave a loud, "Gah!" of pain as N. Tropy appeared from behind, slamming his tuning fork weapon hard into Crunch's back, creating a surge of energy through the bandicoot's body.  
Suddenly, the energy surge threw Crunch forward. The bandicoot gave a yell as he flew several feet, off of the platform he had been training on and into the thick swamp that the city was slowly sinking into.  
Climbing out of the swamp, Crunch breathed in laboured, sharp breaths of rage as he shook the mud from his fur and climbed back up to the temple to face N. Tropy. He was not going to let this doctor get away with this humiliation.  
N. Tropy stood several feet away, the tuning fork pointed right at Crunch. Crunch froze. He may have been extremely angry, but he knew that N. Tropy could easily blow him to pieces with that weapon.  
"If you value your miserable marsupial hide," N. Tropy threatened, with a snicker of triumph in his voice. "You will not take another step"  
"And what," Crunch growled, his eyebrows curved in anger, muscles twitching in rage and his voice snarling at loathing. "Is your brilliant plan this time to take over the world with the Power Crystals, pray tell…? You do know that Crash and I will stop you don't you"  
N. Tropy chuckled as Crunch asked the question. He did not let his guard down, but he laughed still. "Not this time bandicoot. This time that fool Neo has a fail-proof plan to forever rule this world… There is no way you can stop us"  
Crunch continued to glare as N. Tropy stood there. "You know I'll get you… Don't you?" he warned N. Tropy.  
"Of course," N. Tropy snickered. "That's the reason I chose to come after you… I look forward to your challenge"  
"Then bring it," Crunch motioned with his fingers to draw N. Tropy closer.  
"Not just yet…" N. Tropy sniggered. "You are too weak minded." Crunch snarled once again at the comment. "Once you are worthy, then we'll fight…" Then, in the blink of an eye, N. Tropy vanished into thin air with a flash of light, taking the Power Crystal with him.  
"I will get you!" Crunch roared out. "Mark my words"  
Then, as soon as Crunch had calmed down, he glanced over from where he stood, from the edge of the swamp and out to sea. There was N. Sanity Island, where Crash and Coco were…  
He had at least better tell them of what was going on…

With a sigh, Coco Bandicoot leant back in her chair. A smaller bandicoot, Coco was Crash's sister. She was sitting in the lab within hers and Crash's house, her laptop computer out before her.  
"I… am… so… BORED!" she screamed at the computer console. All this programming and development and endless arrays of numbers. She was sick to death of it.  
"Maybe I should've gone to the beach with Crash and the others…" Coco thought for a moment, resting her head in her hand. Giving another large sigh, Coco wondered why she decided to stay behind.  
Someone needed to reprogram several of the machines Brio had supplied them with, and she was the only one who was good enough at computers to do it. If she'd left Crash to it, the toaster would probably be cooking itself and the computers would be short-circuiting…  
But still… "I need a break…" Coco groaned. Leaning towards her computer, she started typing, opening up a program called 'HackIt'. Connecting to the server, Coco smiled, "Well, Master Neo Cortex, let us see what 'brilliant' schemes you have planned to show us this time eh"  
Allowing her fingers into a fury frenzy of typing, Coco began to crack, decode and decipher the inner workings of Cortex's plans. Passwords, security locks and coded messages all fell before her skills as she continued to type.  
Then, "Bingo! All too easy…" Coco beamed as the screen read, 'Welcome Neo Cortex. Master and Supreme Ruler of Earth'  
Flopping back to her chair, she checked the time. Two minutes and thirteen seconds. She'd shaved another nine seconds off of last time. "Man… that was too easy… Now what am I suppose to… huh"  
Coco just noticed a new link on the page. It read, 'World Domination Attempt 23' and it was dated from today. Intrigued, Coco clicked the link…  
'Access Denied from this Console'  
"Well, well, well," Coco chuckled. "Finally, some challenge"  
Erupting into another frenzy, Coco typed and clicked and tapped and pressed and finally growled in frustration. "Grr… This is quite some encoding…" Even after half an hours work, she was still with no progress. It usually took her no longer than ten minutes to break into Cortex's top secret files.  
Finally, a break through. Then one more…  
A location of a secret base. On the other side of N. Sanity Island. Perhaps there was a place there she would be able to uplink her computer from and gain access privileges that she currently did not currently have.  
And words about the Power Crystals.  
"Hmm…" Coco sat back in her chair, rubbing her chin. "Power Crystals again? This doesn't make any sense… He's tried this millions of times before… I'd better find Crash"  
Standing up out of her chair, Coco quickly unplugged her laptop and collected her back harness, sliding the laptop into the harness, before slipping into the harness, with the laptop securely fastened to her back.  
Quickly exiting the house, Coco blinked for a few moments as the noon sunlight blasted her eyes. Then, she glanced upon the trail to N. Sanity Beach. No doubt Crash and the others had all set up a place to relax somewhere there.  
After all, the other path led to the Native Fortress and Crash only ever went there if he couldn't help it.  
Breaking into a run, Coco headed towards the beach, hoping that Crash wasn't mucking about in the Wumpa Jungle or something equally as stupid.

"Awaken my creation," a man snickered.  
"Uhh… Where… am I?" the creature asked as it stumbled slowly from the capsule, tilting and wobbling around the place.  
"Welcome back, Cassie Bandicoot," the man smiled. A large 'N' was tattooed to the man's forehead. "It has been a while since you last saw the light of day"  
"Uhh… What?" the creature called Cassie groaned. It was a young female bandicoot, roughly the same age as Coco. She had short blonde hair, kept in place with a hair-band, a heart necklace around her neck and a gold bangle around her left wrist. She wore a purple t-shirt with light blue pants. "What… What do you mean?" she asked the man. "And who are you"  
The man smiled, "I am Dr. Neo Cortex; I am the man who created you"  
"Created… me?" Cassie asked, as she leant against a wall for support.  
"Indeed," Cortex grinned. Then, his face turned into a frown. "I am so sorry that you have had to remain in hibernation for so long Cassie. But your body was damaged during the attack and I have had to repair you over time"  
"What… What happened?" Cassie asked, as she glanced about her surroundings for the first time. She was in a room, made of cold bricks. It looked like a cell. There was a window, barricaded with thick iron bars. She saw the large glass capsule that she'd been kept in. There were four others behind it, all empty.  
The man Cortex began to walk around the room, revealing another… man? One half of his face was covered in robotics, with a huge missile sticking out of the head, as the man seemed to watch Cortex. "You see my dear Cassie," Cortex began to explain as he paced about the room. "Several years ago, I created an arm… err… a group of creatures as yourself, to allow you a better life. However, three of these creatures began to become evil. I tried to destroy them, but they seized all of my machinery and attempted to take over the world with it.  
"These three experiments will stop at nothing to take over the world. They also near killed you, the reason you remember little and have been trapped within that capsule all this time. I have been doing my best to stop them, but every-time, they come back ever more determined.  
"You see Cassie, these experiments attacked my right hand man," he pointed to the half man, half robot creature. "Dr. N. Gin. I had to help him survive too. They will stop at nothing to take over the world. That's why I need your help Cassie. They are trying it again and I need your help to stop them. If they collect the Power Crystals Cassie, it's all over for us. You must help me get the crystals before they do"  
The bandicoot Cassie stared at Cortex. There was a long, pregnant pause as Cassie took in everything this man had said. "And, who are these three that are doing this that you say"  
Dr. N. Gin spoke up, his voice a high metallic whine, "They are called Crash Bandicoot, Coco Bandicoot and Crunch Bandicoot. They are bandicoots just like you, except evil"  
"Indeed," Cortex nodded, turning to Cassie. "I need your help to stop them. My hench… err… allies will aid you as much as you need it. But first Cassie, this door," he pointed to a door to his right. "Will lead you to my Gauntlet Run. It will test your skills and help you get ready to take on these other bandicoots"  
Cassie stared at Cortex, then to N. Gin. Then to Cortex once more. "Alright then… I'll give it a shot…" She stumbled slightly as she walked to the door, then opened the door. She paused, turning back to Cortex, "This is safe right"  
"Of course, my dear…" Cortex nodded, a sombre look on his face.  
Cassie nodded and walked through, closing the door behind her.  
"Brilliant, Doctor Cortex!" N. Gin laughed. "She fell for that, hook, line and sinker"  
"Of course," Cortex chuckled. "It's amazing where a little lying can take you if you are convincing enough." Cortex glanced back at the four empty capsules. "I cannot believe that those fools let those four escape… That stupid Dingodile and Tiny allowed themselves to fall for their charms and allowed them to escape… But still, perhaps it's for the better… I seriously doubt those bandicoots will allow themselves to attack Cassie… So perhaps she may finally be able to defeat the bandicoots once and for all"  
"And while she thinks that we are the good guys," N. Gin continued. "She'll continue to bring us the Power Crystals"  
"And when she discovers the truth," Cortex snickered. "It'll be too late…" Then he burst into a chorus of maniacal laughter. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two The Plot Thickens

"Momma! Momma, help me!" Crash heard as he threw aside large leaf of a fern, heading towards the voice. Tossing aside yet another fern, Crash erupted from the jungle and back into the sandy beach.  
Standing a small distance on the beach, was the hulking grey koala, known as Koala Kong. With his spiked wrist bracelets and baggy clothes, Koala Kong stood there, attempting to think. Clutched in one of his arms, was a large net. Within the net were two creatures crying out for their mother. "Delphi and Spot…" Crash nodded as he observed the situation.  
Kong was definitely not the smartest of Cortex's henchmen, but he did have some super strength. Crash knew he had to be careful. One false move, and Kong would crush his skull all too easily.  
However, Crash also knew that Delphi and Spot could not afford to be out of the water for too long, or they would die. He had do this fast, as he didn't know how long they had been out of the water so far…  
"Ah, bugger this…" Crash shrugged, before cupping his hands around his mouth and calling out, "Yo! Pea-Brain! You still got several brain cells left or you still as brain dead as ever before"  
"Huh?" the large koala grunted as he turned his head, glancing at Crash.  
"Come get some!" Crash shouted out to Kong, turning around and slapping his bottom to get the koala's attention and hopefully get the koala to come towards him and attack.  
Kong shook his head for a moment, before bellowing and beating his chest. His signal of an oncoming attack. The koala, still clutching the net, charged up to Crash, and to Crash's horror, swung the net over his head and attempted to use it as a mallet on Crash.  
The bandicoot was able to dodge easily, but the sudden screams of pain from the net signalled that this was now more dangerous than before. Too many of these strikes would most definitely kill Spot and Delphi before their dehydration did.  
Perhaps it was time to try a little brains over brawn.  
Crash deliberately tripped before Kong allowing the koala to stand over him, shadowing the bandicoot, with his bulk and the net with the screaming children within. "Kong smash!" Kong grunted.  
"Yes, yes, smash me…" Crash pleaded with Kong. "But please don't throw the net into the sea"  
Kong seemed to think for a moment, before swinging the net at Crash once more as a club. Rolling to the side, Crash copped a full ear-full as the children screamed in pain once more.  
"Ok…" Crash groaned. "Time for Plan B"  
Jumping to his feet, Crash dashed out into the lower tide, hoping that Kong would follow him out. Wading into the surf, Crash risked a glance back…  
Success! Kong was coming after him. This plan was…  
The ground underneath Crash's feet suddenly disappeared, sloping sharply into deeper waters. Spluttering, Crash thrashed about, trying to get to the surface. "Help! Gulb… Hel"  
Then, he felt something lift him up to the surface. Impossible, the ground underneath him was moving! Stepping back quickly, Crash was once again on water he could stand in, but he bumped into something big and furry.  
"Uh oh"  
"Kong crush Crash"  
Drawing the net with the screaming youngsters once more, Crash realized there was no escape this time… Kong had him dead…  
Suddenly, the huge Koala Kong was pulled outwards to sea by his feet. Crash felt something brush against his legs slightly. The net was dropped as Kong was pulled under and out and sank down in the water, trapping the children without air. Taking a breath, Crash plunged his head into the lower waters and fiddled with the net. There HAD to be an opening…  
Then, it burst open as Crash pulled loose the right string. The two young ones burst from the net and to the surface, puffing through their blowholes, Crash was moments behind them, gasping through his mouth.  
Upon hearing the yells of pain, Crash glanced back out to deeper waters. There was Gleam, bouncing Kong like a ball and smacking him very well with her tail. With every hit, Crash had to crush up his face in surprise, disgust and a feeling of pain as Kong was pummelled.  
Finally, her revenge being avenged, Gleam bounced Koala Kong up high from her nose, then as he fell, she turned tail, smacking him extremely hard with her flukes, the wet slap heard for miles. The koala flew several feet up in the air, before crashing back in deeper waters, sharks pouncing upon him as he did.  
Wading back from the surf, Crash heard the cries of his friends, Tina, Polar and Pura from the beach, awaiting their friend's return.  
"Way to go Crash"  
"You did it! Great one"  
"Dang! I always sleep through all the fun"  
Smiling, Crash stood in the knee deep waters, shaking his fur dry. Then, he turned to look back out to the waters. Gleam was there, a few feet from Crash, with her two children, nuzzling them both gently. One looked like a miniature version of Gleam, but the other one… well, he now understood Gleam's claim of 'adopted'. It was a killer whale child.  
"Thank you," Gleam beamed at Crash, her voice melting and eyes glazing over with gratitude as she did. "Thank you so much"  
"No problem," Crash grinned back. "Happy to help you out"  
"What is your name?" the little dolphin squeaked out. It was a girl.  
"Crash. Crash Bandicoot. And you are"  
"Delphi," the dolphin giggled. "This is my brother Spot"  
"Hi," Spot grinned, his voice muffled by something he was holding in his mouth, between the back teeth. Crash noticed a purplish shiny object from one corner of the mouth. Could it be that?  
"What's that in your…" Crash began to ask Spot.  
"Aaaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh!" Kong screamed as he ran past the group on the beach, a large shark firmly clamped his jaws to his butt. He disappeared swiftly into the jungle, still screaming.  
"Uhh… Right," Crash blinked, surprised at the sudden outburst of Koala Kong running in frenzy. "Anyway, what's that you've got in your mouth Spot"  
The little killer whale blinked for a moment, before he opened his jaws, and pushed out with his tongue the item that he had lodged between his teeth. "It's our new toy," Delphi tittered as Crash stared at it, recognising what it was.  
"No wonder he was after you," Crash nodded. "That's a Power Crystal"  
"What was that?" Gleam asked, her eyes narrowing. "They were after my children because of their toy?" There was a small pause, before Gleam added. "What is so special about it"  
"It is called a Power Crystal," Crash began. "They look simple, but within they house great powers. These powers can be used for either good or great evil. The creature that had Delphi and Spot, Koala Kong his name is, works for a man called Neo Cortex. Cortex has often tried to get these crystals to use for his plans for world domination… But it has been a while since he last used the crystals… I wonder what he's up to"  
Gleam averted her gaze from Crash to the crystal in Spot's mouth for a few moments, before asking, "If we didn't have these crystals, would they leave us alone"  
"Yes," Tina nodded before Crash could answer, as she stood in the shallower waters with Polar and Pura. "They have no point in harassing you"  
Gleam thought again, before chattering something in dolphin language to Delphi and Spot… "Awww…" Delphi whined, her voice sweeter and as cute sounding as it was ever possible by any creature. "Do we have to"  
Gleam nodded, her look firm.  
Spot rolled the crystal from his tongue, dropping it into the shallow waters. "You look after the shiny thing then Crash. Maybe you can play with it"  
"Sure thing," Crash chuckled slightly as he picked up the crystal. He would make sure that this crystal was added to the collection he and Coco had collected over the years, to prevent Cortex's fiendish plots. He felt the slight hum of power from the crystal as he held it. Then, "Hey, Gleam… If you find any other crystals"  
"Bring them to you?" Gleam asked, a mysterious glint of intelligence in her eyes. "I will… if it helps keep my children safe… then yes… However, I also wish something of you Crash, if you will accept it that is"  
Crash blinked for a moment, before asking, "What is it"  
"Friendship," Gleam beamed. "I am willing to become your friend, as will my children, if you are willing to accept it. We will help you whenever you need help and forever be grateful to you"  
With a smile, Crash answered with a smile, "Of course. I wouldn't want to lose friends such as you anyway"  
Before Gleam could answer, a shout floated upon the winds from the jungle to Crash's ears. "Crash! Crash! Crash Bandicoot! Where are you"  
"Coco! Over this way!" Crash called out into the jungle, as he heard his sister's cries in desperation. He was a little confused at first. Why was Coco out here? Didn't she say she was going to work on the machinery of the house?  
Then, tossing aside a large fern, Coco stormed out of the jungle, not looking too pleased. She folded her arms across her chest, frowning. "Just where have you been Crash? I've been searching all over for you!"

"Wha! Eep!" Cassie shrieked as she ducked a high spinning guillotine blade, only to have to leap immediately after to avoid having her ankles cut off from a low spinning one.  
Panting to herself, Cassie muttered, "This doesn't seem very safe to me at all," before she dashed through the opening of the next onslaught of blades before her. So far, Cassie had dealt with electrifying force fields, Lab Assistant androids that attempted to halt her and now these spinning blades.  
These bandicoots must be pretty tough if all of Cortex's men could survive this gauntlet and still not take them down.  
Another android appeared, tossing several explosive bottles at Cassie. The young bandicoot darted forward, avoiding the blast and with a loud, "Hi-ya!" she delivered a powerful pin kick to the stomach of the robot.  
With a metal clang, the android remained in place, as Cassie hopped about, clutching her foot. "Yeow! Yeow! Yeow!" she protested, as she hopped about.  
The android appeared from behind, wrapping its metallic arms around the bandicoot in a bear hug. She struggled, but the grip of the robot held tight.  
"Come on Cassie," the loud voice of Cortex boomed out from speakers hidden somewhere in the room. "Surely you can do better than that"  
'He's watching me,' Cassie thought, before growling at the Lab Assistant that held her in place. 'Brains over brawn,' she thought to herself as she flicked her eyes to the blades she'd just finished dashing through.  
Forcing her body backwards, Cassie toppled the android over. The robot, confused, released its grip just enough, so Cassie could slide free. As she stood up, the android began to sit up.  
With a powerful kick to the head, Cassie sent the robot sliding across the stony floor of the Gauntlet and into the blades.  
A loud, terrific grinding sound was heard as the robot was hacked to pieces, the blades being forced to grind to a halt as the metal body held the spinning guillotines at bay.  
"Excellent work Cassie," the voice commended. "You are doing great. Now, all you have to do is…" The instructions were cut short as a huge explosion rocked the castle, shaking Cassie from her feet. "Curses! Not again! Fine, change of plans. Cassie, a little further down this hall before you," Cassie turned to see a door open, offering her a new option from the rest of the gauntlet. "You will find my ammo dump. One of my… colleges, is heading towards it. I want you to prevent him from reaching it, or we will all be history"  
"What?" Cassie gasped in shock. "Why would one of your own men want to destroy us all"  
"Well," Cortex's voice hummed. "Let's just say he's not as smart as he used to be, and should he find that ammo, he'll blow us all to kingdom come. Now hurry, get there as fast as you can"  
Cassie gave a nod, before she hurried into the doorway and out into the hallway before her. She dashed towards the end of the corridor, past the portraits of Dr. Cortex and his colleges, past a crossroads, before arriving at an open area, with a large amount of crates of TNT and Nitro. She gave an impressed whistle as she saw the room.  
Suddenly, a deranged laugh snapped back Cassie's attention to the hallway, as she saw the creature appear at the end of the corridor, bouncing up and down, laughing like a maniac.  
The blue furred creature was tied up within a restraint jacket, with long legs that ended with clawed toes. The eyes seemed to spin a kaleidoscope of colours, as the tongue lolled out of the mouth.  
"Boom boom! Wahahahahahahaha!" the creature laughed as it paused, spotting the explosives behind Cassie. It tilted its head, rocking from side-to-side in a mesmerizing fashion, before continuing to bounce towards the explosives. "Eheheheheheheh! Wahahahahahahah! Woohoohoohoohoohoo"  
"What the heck is this thing?" Cassie gasped in shock as the creature, slightly in shock at it.  
"That is Ripper Roo," the loudspeaker that was Cortex spoke out. There was a pause before he added, "The bandicoots drove him insane with their torment and now, he constantly seeks out ways to blow up people. You must stop him from reaching that ammo at any cost Cassie"  
Growling, Cassie decided she hated these bandicoots more and more, for every time she heard of them, they did something else that was more atrocious than their last evil deeds.  
'Ok,' Cassie told her-self, as she lowered into a stance to prepare to pounce. 'I have to stop you no matter what'  
"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!" the kangaroo snickered as he bounced closer and closer to the ammo dump, unaware of Cassie's plans to stop him.  
As soon as the kangaroo got close, Cassie pounced, throwing herself at the kangaroo with a flying kick, shrilling, "Hi-Ya!" With a pleasant feeling of her foot connecting with bone, the kangaroo flew in the opposite direction, as Cassie flung her-self backwards, landing on the ground, next to several crates of explosives.  
"Grrrufff!" the kangaroo growled as he leapt back to his feet, anger flashing in his insane eyes. "Roo go boomboom! Wahahahahahahahaha"  
"Oh? So you want to be blown up?" Cassie snarled, her eyes darting to the TNT crate sitting next to her. Hauling the crate above her head, she tossed it at the deranged kangaroo, knocking him to the ground with a crate of explosives on top of him. "Take a bite outta this one!" Cassie snarled, as she triggered the detonator.  
"Wahoo!" Roo cried as the fuse began to run out. Cassie dived to the floor, covering her ears in preparation.  
Another massive explosion rocked the castle walls. Cassie felt the falling pebbles fall on her, pelting her skin and dust clouds swarming over her. A scream echoed over the loud speaker as Cortex thought the entire castle went up in smoke.  
When at long last, the dust had settled, Cassie glanced up, coughing from the dust lingering in the air. A severely blackened Ripper Roo lay on the ground, laughing slightly, before passing out.  
"Well done Cassie!" Cortex roared out over the loudspeaker, as several Lab Assistant androids entered the room, dragging away the crispy roo. "I didn't think you had what it takes, but you proved me wrong!" There was a pause and Cassie dusted herself off, feeling proud and pleased with her-self.  
"All right then Cassie," Cortex's voice called out again. "You have proven your worth, and now I have a special mission for you to do. Not too far from my castle is an island, covered with ancient ruins. I have a secret Ocean Base underneath the coral reef between here and there, and I want you to help guard it. I will be sending you with two of my hench… Umm, best men, err… animals… uhh… Well, you know what I mean! Just wait there, and they will arrive, and escort you to the boat to the entrance to my Ocean Base. Can you do that"  
With the slightest of nods, Cassie agreed, and waited in the hallway. It wasn't too long before two figures appeared. One was big and bulky, while the other was much smaller. Both were the colour of mottled green, with scaly skin and yellow slatted reptile eyes, which stared at Cassie hungrily. Purple oriental robes draped over their bodies, complete with head caps that held a pike on the head. Each of these two held one huge scimitar each, the thinner one of the two dangerously twirling it around in the air.  
"Ssssso," the thinner figure hissed, glaring at Cassie. "You are the newcomer. Let'ssss get one thing ssstraight, I do not take ordersss from you, even if commanded by Dr. Cortexxx. Ssstay outta our way," he spun the blade one last time, before pointing it straight at Cassie. "And I'll allow your head to remain upon your ssshouldersss. Underssstood"  
Cassie nodded, fearfully staring at the blade. Then, after a few moments of silence, she enquired, "Who--who are you? My name is"  
"Cassssssie Bandicoot," the lizard hissed again, scorn spitting upon his voice. "We all knowsss who you are. I am Komodo Joe, and thisss, is my half-wit twin, Komodo Moe, and together we form the Komodo Brotherssss… Now, come along. We mussst reach the Ocean Bassse before it is dissscovered…"

"It's like this," Coco explained to Crash as they sat down on the sand up the beach, talking to one another. In the lower tide, Delphi and Spot were fooling about with Polar, Pura and Tina, under the watchful eye of their mother Gleam. "I hacked into Cortex's computers and found some strange gibberish"  
Pulling out her laptop, Coco switched the computer on and showed it to Crash, who scratched his head in thought.  
"See Crash? This is top-rated stuff. Even Cortex has outdone himself, because for Cortex, this level of encryption is unbelievable! I can't even begin to decode this without access to a higher console port"  
"Hmmm…" Crash hummed to himself. There were details for a secret harbour to the other side of the island and the words 'Power Crystals' mentioned several times among the random babble of the code. "So you say"  
"Cortex is up to his old tricks once again," Coco nodded, her face grim. "I don't fully understand why, or how, his computers became so heavily encrypted, but I know for a fact that if it is, this has gotta be something really big"  
Scratching his head again, Crash held up the Power Crystal given to him by Spot to Coco. "Well, this is a start. Koala Kong was harassing the dolphin and orca out there for this crystal. At least they are now safe"  
"I'm not sure Crash…" Coco murmured to herself as she turned back to the computer screen, glaring at the unrecognisable digits and figures. "This seems so much… Had Cortex been sending out his minions like this, or attempting some sort of trick upon either of us, I could understand and believe he was planning to harness their powers for a new Cortex Vortex… But this…" She gritted her teeth in worry. "I've never seen code so complex. It's almost as if someone else wrote it"  
"Perhaps so," Crash nodded, frowning. That was all they needed. A dangerously new henchman, who was smarter and deadlier was not the icing on the cake Crash currently wanted.  
There was quiet between the brother and sister, before the splashing of the children snapped them out of their trances. Coco thought for a moment, "I think we'd best get down to this straight away, don't you Crash? I mean, first of all, we need to protect our crystal stash, alert Brio, investigate this harbour and access a higher terminal, so I can get more on this code decoded. I can kill two birds with one stone, by investigating the harbour and finding a place to uplink from, but I think you'd best find Brio and hide that crystal among our stash"  
Giving Coco the thumbs up, Crash called out to the animals, "Yo! You guys! We're off to save the world again! Any of you coming with us"  
"No thanks!" barked Polar with a laugh. "Having too much fun here"  
Pura and Tina also shook their heads, wishing to linger back with their new cetacean friends. Then, with a giggle of squeaks, Delphi splashed them with her flippers and the game continued.  
Standing up, Coco shut down her laptop and sliding it into her harness once again, as Crash dusted off his jeans. "So what Crash?" Coco asked. "I'll go to the Hidden Harbour, you head into Wumpa Jungle and find the crystal stash and Brio's laboratory"  
"Sounds good to me," grinned Crash as he clutched the crystal. "Meet you back at the house later"  
With a nod, Coco turned down the beach as she sprinted along the shoreline, hoping to reach the harbour this way, as Crash turned into the jungle, overturning a large frond and venturing into the labyrinth of trees and ruins.  
'Finally,' Crash thought to himself. 'Some fun at last!'

Sitting at the beach, awaiting the arrival of his transport, Crunch leant against the stone idol face that was sitting out of the shore. It would be midday before his ride arrived, for he was supposed to be returning upon completing his training.  
But an emergency called and now, he had to wait for his boat to arrive.  
Growling, Crunch threw his metal fist up against the stone idol in fury.  
Clang!  
"Huh?" Crunch growled, turning to look at the so-called idol.  
Stone against metal didn't go clang. Metal against metal did though.  
As Crunch tapped the stone with his normal fist, there was another metallic thud against it, and Crunch frowned. The ancient race that built these totem gods didn't have metal to carve from, they used stone.  
"Cortex," Crunch snickered slightly, as he began to finger around the statue, seeking a trigger or something. This idol had to be something special, like the entrance to something below, like the Dragon Mines or perhaps a missile or some sort of secret weapon.  
Either way, he had to…  
Click! The tongue slid into place, and there was a metallic whirr. A panel opened below the mouth and inside was an elevator. It was small and well concealed, and to confirm Crunch's suspicions, the floor had a large 'N' emblem, the signature of a Cortex product.  
"Well, well, well…" Crunch chuckled to him-self. "I wonder what the good doctor is planning this time… Only one way to find out I guess…" Climbing into the lift, a slightly tight squeeze for his bulk, Crunch pressed the down button and the panel slid shut as the lift began to descend into the darkness below… 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three First Conflict

"Whoa!" Crunch gasped as he stepped out of the lift. He was standing inside what seemed to be a long tunnel, lit up by lights and computers all around. The tunnel was part of a wet cave and to his left of the lift; there were the remains of a temple built into the wall, buried by centuries under the ground.  
Giving a whistle, Crunch ventured towards the door on the other side of the tunnel, the metal whirr of the opening doors as he approached. Slowly they slid open and Crunch nearly collapsed from sheer shock at what he saw…  
The tunnel ahead of him was part of an intricate maze of tunnels and labs stretched for miles underneath the ocean surface, and among the coral reefs. This massive base was underwater, perfectly hidden from bandicoots that couldn't swim.  
In the labs of glass, Crunch could see Lab Assistant androids and machinery of all different sorts, performing all sorts of strange tasks. For at least once in his life, Crunch was lost for words, unsure of what he saw before him.  
A shark swam past the glass, clacking its jaws at Crunch. Fish of all sorts of colours and shapes also darted past, as eels slunk in the grottos of the coral and stone.  
"This is a bit too much to simply be an aquarium," Crunch growled to himself, unsure of what to do. Should he go back and bring the others, or should he venture forward and explore solo?  
Then, in the glass lab three away and to the right, he saw him.  
Dr. N. Tropy, clutching the Power Crystal and speaking to a hologram of Dr. Neo Cortex.  
Snarling, remembering his humiliating defeat before, Crunch decided that he would venture alone, and extract some payback upon the doctor. Nobody dared strike down Crunch and get away…  
Stepping forward, Crunch felt the slightest brushing against his leg and then…  
"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Lock down sector 4! Lock down sector 4! Intercept and destroy!" All the while the robotic voice chanted, with a warning, 'breet breet' sound ringing all around.  
"Oh nuts!" Crunch cursed himself as he realised he'd walked straight through a security laser without even checking for such a thing. The doors behind him snapped shut tight, trapping Crunch within the base. He glanced over at N. Tropy, who stared through with a smirk on his face. "Wipe that smirk off your face," Crunch pointed, even though N. Tropy couldn't hear him. "Or I'll wipe the floor with you"  
Dashing forward, Crunch dived through the doors on the other side as they near snapped shut. As he rolled from his landing, three Lab androids charged him, electric charges jolting through their hands. Grabbing the nearest by the robotic throat and swinging him around as a club, Crunch swatted the other two to the side and then tossed his club at them, before leaping into the air and landing fist down on the androids, shattering them into utter pieces.  
Turning, Crunch glared at the possible options he currently had open to him now that he'd entered the base and couldn't escape the way he'd come. One tube led down towards what looked like a room full of boats and subs.  
A possible escape route perhaps?  
As Crunch twisted his head, he saw the upper tube led up, into a higher lab, getting closer to the lair where he'd seen N. Tropy.  
Revenge still fresh in his mind, Crunch took the latter option, heading upwards, towards the chamber of N. Tropy, so he show the doctor who was the weak one between the two of them.  
As Crunch entered the next lab, two more assistants charged him. Two quick punches later, they were nothing but scrap metal on the ground.  
Turning, Crunch saw the chamber where the chamber where N. Tropy was standing was connected right to the chamber that he was in. An angry scowl spread across Crunch's face as he dashed into the chamber, N. Tropy standing there with the crystal in his hands. A large hologram machine sat in the corner, no longer being used to communicate with Cortex.  
"Right Tropy," puffed Crunch, anger fuming from him. "Now its just you and me… Let's do this"  
The doctor put his finger to his chin and thought, "Hmm… I think not marsupial… Not today"  
"No choice!" Crunch snarled as he threw himself at Tropy, drawing back for a massive downward punch…  
Falling flat on his face again, as Tropy warped away with the crystal, Crunch jumped to his feet and roared in anger, "Tropy! You can't run forever! I'll chase you to the ends of the Earth! You know you"  
Crunch's screaming fit was rudely interrupted from the sound of slow, mocking clapping from behind of him.  
Spinning around, Crunch's confused mind grew ever more so.  
Sitting there, was a young female bandicoot, wearing a purple top, blue jeans and several articles of jewellery. She looked about Coco's age, though this certainly was not Coco.  
"Who--Who are you?" Crunch blinked in confusion; pretty sure he remembered the only bandicoot experiments had been Crash, Coco and he.  
"Who I am is of no concern to someone like you," the girl snarled. "I have remained in turmoil for so long because of you and your brethren, for the evil you have befallen, and now…" a smirk upon her face. "It's pay back time."

Dashing along the jungle path, Crash threw the fronds from his wake as he dashed past all the flora and fauna that the tropical steamy Wumpa Jungle housed. Jumping up and grabbing a ripe Wumpa Fruit from the tree as he tore past, Crash took a bite, the soft purple flesh rolling in his mouth as the juice stained his fur slightly.  
"Whoa!" Crash skidded to a halt, leaping backwards, narrowly missing the snap and bite of the razor teeth of one of the overgrown fly-traps that grew here.  
Rearing back up, the purple plant snarled, flashing its fangs as it 'watched' Crash, the leafy mane dancing in the wind as the plant eyed its meal.  
Keeping his distance, Crash walked around the plant some distance until he knew he was safe, before breaking into a run again, getting near the cave where he and Coco hid their stash of Power Crystals.  
Pulling away the frond that covered the entrance in the rock, Crash squatted down and crawled into the hole, entering the cave where he had hid the crystals since they collected their very first.  
"What?" Crash barked in shock as he entered the central chamber. It was bare, completely bare. Not a crystal, not a shard in sight. "Who… Who"  
"They came a long while back…" hissed a voice, as Crash spun around. Behind him, were four figures, all cloaked and hooded, faces and bodies hidden. "They took all the crystals then retreated back to the Castle"  
"Who… are you?" Crash asked, raising an eye-brow. The four cloaked figures seemed rather… menacing. One was huge, bulky like Crunch or Tiny perhaps, except with bulges on the shoulder blades, while standing in an intimidating fashion. One was rather small, but with its cloak extending far like a cape, covering a long tail, while this figure stood as if upset. The next seemed as if clinging to the back wall, a normal sized body, while the last stood, arms crossed, the back of the cloak held up by some tail, and seemed as if was the leader of this band.  
"We…" the leader chuckled darkly in the darkness of their hood. "Are of none of your concern Bandicoot. Just stay out of our way, and we'll stay out of yours"  
"What? Hey! Wait! Get back here!" Crash called out as the four turned and left swiftly, the way he'd just come. Stunned for a few seconds, Crash blinked then took off down the tunnel after then.  
Erupting back into the jungle, Crash turned all around, looking up, left, right and down, but the four hooded figures were gone.  
Leaving Crash in a state of puzzlement…

"Aaaarrrggghh!" Crunch called out as again he was forced forward onto the ground, a well timed kick to his back during a lunge sending him sprawling across the metallic base of the ocean lair.  
"Seriously…" the female bandicoot chuckled as she took a few more steps forward to Crunch, who struggled back to his feet. "If that's all you got, I don't know why Cortex has such an issue with you"  
"Gah… I don't know who you are, or what you think you are doing," Crunch growled as he wiped his chin with his metallic paw. "But as long as you are allied to Cortex, you are our enemy, and unlike Crash and Coco, I won't show any mercy…" Crunch snapped as he charged forward, drawing his fist back.  
With a shrug, the girl bandicoot waited until Crunch was close enough, before flip-tripping over him and kicking his back once more, sending the brute to the ground once again. Approaching the struggling bandicoot Cassie smirked, "Just give it up loser… You know you can't… URK"  
"Can't what?" Crunch snarled as his metallic fist grabbed Cassie by the throat, holding her in place. "I'm sorry, but I think that this little fight is over and you have lost little one"  
"Not…" Cassie choked out. "By… a… long… shot!" As she thrashed out her legs in one vicious kick at Crunch.  
"Ooohh!" Crunch groaned as he sunk to his knees, clutching between his legs as he moaned, "Even for a girl… That was low"  
"Really?" Cassie tilted her head as she slowly approached Crunch. "Well Cassie Bandicoot isn't no ordinary girl my 'friend' so live with it!" Standing over the fallen Crunch for a second, Cassie then spun around with a kick, striking the larger bandicoot out cold.  
"Bravo! Bravo!" Komodo Joe hissed from his spot in the bubble where he watched the fight. "That wasss sssomething amazzzing"  
Cassie merely nodded to Komodo Joe, before asking, "Now, what do we do with him"  
"I thought you'd never asssk…" Joe snarled as he stood up, pulling a sharp scimitar from his back, running his clawed finger across the blade.  
"Wait!" Cassie protested to Joe. "You can't kill him"  
"What?" Joe snapped, turning to Cassie, his eyes ablaze. "He is one of our enemiesss… He mussst be dessstroyed"  
"Why destroy him…" Cassie smirked. "When we can torture him instead?" 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four Getting in Deeper

Coco gave a whistle when she saw the base from the hill top. It wasn't big as such, but for its location at the far end of N. Sanity Beach, it wasn't too bad. Leaning for a moment against one of the stone idols that littered their island home, Coco rested and tried to work out from afar what was there…  
She saw several battleships all moored to a dock on the east, while a large factory-looking building rested to the north. Missile silos, fighter jets and several over walkways of metal connected this mad labyrinth of metallic madness.  
And to top it all off, the docks were teaming with Lab Assistant androids and security robots, while the waters were patrolled by smart mines and…  
Were those sharks with lasers attached to their heads?  
"Hoo boy!" Coco murmured to her-self as she tried to figure out the predicament that she'd gotten herself into. It was quite obvious she wouldn't be able to simply walk over to the factory and access a console there.  
Cracking her knuckles as she drew near the large, meshed gate, reaching out her hand to climb the gate, Coco heard a small squeaky voice call out to her. "Hey! Hey you"  
Turning her head, Coco glanced down the shoreline, and floundering in the shallows of the water was a small dolphin. The same one Crash had saved earlier. "Uh… Daphne, wasn't it"  
"Delphi…" the little dolphin giggled.  
"Delphi! That's it!" Coco snapped her fingers as her eyes lit up. "What's up there Delphi"  
Shaking her head in the surf, splashing water about, Delphi squawked, "Momma left me here while she and Spot went looking for a few of those crystal thingies you lot were after… And I wouldn't touch that gate if I were you"  
Blinking as she turned back to the gate, Coco glanced at it. It seemed normal… And upon dwelling on that fact, Coco knew it was wrong… "What's wrong with the gate?" Coco asked as she turned back to Delphi, eyes narrowed.  
Dipping her snout into the water, Delphi's head popped back up with a small squirming silver fish in her beak. "Here!" Delphi called as she tossed her head, and the fish towards Coco, who fumbled once, twice and the third time held onto the slippery fish. "Throw it at the gate and see!" the dolphin chirruped.  
A small blink of confusion, then a shrug, Coco hurled the fish at the gate. It bounced off the metal with a splat, then onto the ground with another.  
"Huh…" Delphi titled her head. "It happened before"  
Suddenly, electrical fingers curled around the fish, burning and frying it with the heat of electricity as the fish's body danced in the current of voltage. After a few seconds, the fish's body dropped to the ground, steaming cooked.  
"Mmm… Just need some chips now…" Delphi licked her lips.  
"Darn…" Coco punched the air. "Now how am I supposed to get in there"  
Delphi giggled as she rolled lazily in the waters. "Pity you couldn't swim out there… It'd make it all that much"  
"That's it!" Coco butted in as she leapt down from the dock and splashed into the lower surf to Delphi. "Reckon you could take me in there precious?" Coco asked the dolphin.  
"Well… I dunno…" Delphi tilted her head, unsure and a little worried at the very idea of doing so.  
"I'm sure you are a brave little dolphin," Coco cooed gently, sensing Delphi's fear, as she gently stroked the young one's blowhole with her paw. "I'm sure you could do it"  
Delphi seemed slightly torn at the idea, but finally nodded. "Okay… I'll try. But if anything scary happens, we come straight back here… Okay"  
"It's a deal…" Coco smiled.  
Turning in the water, Delphi offered her dorsal to Coco. "Hold on!"

"Uhh… My head"  
Crunch groaned as he awoke, clutching his head in his iron paw. It felt as if a thousand knifes were driving into his skull. He pried open an eye to look about, and see his surroundings.  
He was stuck in some sort of cell, thick iron bars cutting off his exit, while thick metal walls surrounded his other three. On the outside were computers and Lab Assistant androids working tirelessly, and…  
"Arrrgh!" Crunch panicked as he backed up, away from she…  
"Well, well…" snickered the smaller female bandicoot who had beaten him up beforehand, as she leant forward to his cell, a wide grin on her face. "I see you have woken up"  
More from surprise than fear, Crunch recovered from his startled jump back, leaping forward to the bars, shouting, "You little…! Where am I? What did you do"  
"Temper, temper…" chuckled the smaller bandicoot, as she turned back, tossing a strand of hair out from her face. "You are here, in Cortex's Secret Harbour upon N. Sanity Island, where you will be… Well, bluntly put, tortured, until Cortex decides your fate…" She turned back to Crunch, smirking as she leaned against a wall, a keypad next to her. "So make yourself at home"  
"At home?" roared Crunch as he started to shake in fury. "Why I outta tear out your lungs you little"  
"Language!" Cassie snapped as she glowered to Crunch. She pressed a button on the keypad and at once, Crunch felt immense pain rocket through his body as the floor became electrified. It ended after only two seconds, but Crunch was knocked from his feet from the pain that it caused him.  
"Whoa! That smarts…" Crunch coughed up a small cloud of smoke as small beams of lighting travelled between his two ears.  
"Enjoy that?" Cassie smiled as she reached for the keypad again. "Let's try fire this time shall"  
"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" the metallic hum of the computers began to cry as red lights flashed around them.  
Ditching Crunch and the keypad, Cassie dashed over to a screen to watch. On the screen, an underwater camera showed a dolphin swimming through the small opening with a bandicoot on its back, clutching the dorsal.  
Turning away, and back to Crunch, Cassie gave a wink. "Hey, I'll play with you some other time… Right now, me and the others will get you a room-mate eh?" as she hurried out of the room.  
'Ah great…' Crunch thought to himself as he looked about for an escape route. 'This area seems as if it's totally inescapable'  
There seemed as if there was no way out. He tried pulling apart the bars, tried punching the walls, everything… There was no escape.  
"Ha! Some super-weapon Cortex made me out to be. I need to train harder," Crunch pouted bitterly to himself. 'Then again… He made this cell, so he had to have been expecting me to be here, so that's not my fault! After all, I was much stronger than even for this cell when I was powered by the'  
Crunch froze in mid-thought as an idea rushed to him. Perhaps he could escape that way…  
"Aku-Aku! Aku-Aku!" Crunch called out, hoping the witch doctor spirit would hear his calls and help him out of here.  
With a puff of smoke and shimmer of stars, the mask embodiment of the ancient witch-doctor appeared within the cell. A carved wooden face, with coloured feathers garnishing the top ceremoniously. Aku-Aku had indeed answered Crunch's call…  
"Yes Crunch? How may I help you my friend?" the mask asked.  
"Aku…" Crunch began, a twisted smile upon his muzzle. "I want you to grant me my Elemental powers back for just a little while"  
The mask observed Crunch for a few moments before, "Are you sure of this Crunch? After all, if I do grant you back your powers, then you will possibly lose all control of yourself for some time… You could do a lot of damage to both enemies… And friends"  
"It's a risk I'm willing to take…" Crunch growled, as he flexed his metallic paw, waiting in anticipation.  
"Very well then Crunch"  
A sudden explosion behind them caused the Lab Assistants to turn, their robotic eyes widening in fear as they witnessed the beast that approached them.  
Crunch, with a head made from rock, a torso that burned with the brightest of flames, as the arms floated as clouds, crackling with electrical energy and legs that were made of water.  
"Heh heh heh…" the monster chuckled as it closed in on them…

"Left! Right! Left! AHHH!" Delphi shrieked as she dodged, dipped, dived and ducked as a large shark came tearing out after her, firing the lasers upon his head at the little dolphin and her passenger.  
Holding her breath tight, Coco clutched the dorsal as hard as she could do so, though she began to panic as she knew she couldn't do it for too much longer. 'Oh gods… What have I done?' Coco wondered to herself.  
"Coco!" screamed Delphi, the baby's voice frantic. "I'm gonna jump the dock! Jump off when I do"  
Hearing the roar and clash of the shark's jaws upon her feet, and the singing burn of the laser in the water nearby, Coco tapped Delphi on the blowhole, to let her know she was ready.  
With a sudden surge of forgotten energy, Delphi rocketed towards the surface, erupting through the barrier of sea and sky with a cascade of water droplets as a loud crash of jaws was heard below.  
Then, releasing the dorsal and dropping, Coco fell collapsed upon the metal deck with a clang, near a stock pile of various coloured crates. Coughing and spluttering for several moments, Coco lay on the metal, panting from exhaustion, glad to be alive…  
Suddenly, a shrieking scream called through the air, as Coco flung herself towards the edge to see Delphi still running from the shark, as the lasers continued to attempt to slice the baby apart.  
"Delphi!" Coco called, suddenly remembering she'd led the baby to a now possible death… "Oh no! Oh no…!" Coco panicked as she tried to think of a solution as Delphi raced about, the shark hot on her flukes.  
Then, the crates…  
Picking up a nearby crate of TNT, Coco called out, "Delphi! This way! Quickly!" as she pressed the box to the edge, waiting for the moment…  
Turning back, the dolphin erupted again, leaping the dock as the shark attempted to charge underneath it, and Coco, who pressed the crate off the edge at once, slamming it on top of the shark, which gave a cry of surprise, before sinking down underneath the crate.  
"Coco! You did"  
"Get away Delphi!" Coco cried as she ran the deck downwards, and Delphi, panicked, took away for the exit.  
Seconds later…  
BOOM!  
Part of the dock was taken out, metal shards flying around as a clatter was heard near Coco as a set of teeth and a laser harness landed near her. Shakily climbing to her feet, Coco glanced about, looking for Delphi, to make sure the baby was safe.  
Sure enough, she saw the baby dolphin porpoising outside the fence.  
Breathing a sigh of relief that they were both still alive, Coco turned and ran towards the factory. Right on the outside was a computer terminal… All too easy…  
Hurrying over to the terminal, Coco pulled her laptop out of its bag, giving it a slight kiss, and thanking Brio for making it a water-proof lap-top. Running the uplink cable to a port at the base of the terminal, Coco activated the hacking software and began to un-code the data.  
Once she was in, she started the download for the files of Cortex's plan, copying all the data of his diabolic plan to her own system…  
12... 15... 18.  
"Connection lost?" Coco cried out in surprise.  
"Maybe you need this?" snarled a voice, waving her uplink cord in front of her. It was another bandicoot, a smaller female, though she sort of resembled Coco.  
"Who…?" Coco blinked in confusion. She never remembered any other bandicoot experiments.  
"Name's Cassie, but that won't mean much to you missy. You are way over your head this time…" Cassie snapped to Coco as she tossed the cord at Coco. "Trying to upload some virus were you"  
"What?" Coco snapped back, her voice high and harsh. "Why I"  
Suddenly, a large explosion rocked the base as Cassie and Coco were knocked from their feet. "What in the world?" Cassie gasped, as she glanced back to see the huge prison complex in flames, some flaming figure flying away into the jungle, as the rest of the base began to wail sirens and warnings.  
"Base unstable. Reactor core damaged. Self destruct switch activated and sequence initiated"  
"Oh come on!" Coco cried out. "Why do all villains have self-destruct switches in their bases?" She turned to Cassie. "I don't know who you are, or anything else, but"  
"Shut up!" Cassie barked as she leapt to her feet, ignoring Coco. "I'm outta here!" as she took off down the dock, as fast as her legs could carry her. "Burn in hell bandicoot"  
"Hey! Wait!" Coco called out as she started after the bandicoot Cassie, after gathering her laptop. She had questions to ask, but a sudden explosion cut her off as the dock before her, and behind Cassie blew apart.  
"Whoa! Other way!" Coco turned, in time to see more explosions tear apart that side of the dock. "Oh great!" Coco cried as she realised there was no escape now. She was stranded upon the small section of metal dock with the warehouse.  
"Base shall self destruct in one minute and thirty seconds. Have a nice day"  
"Have a nice day? HAVE A NICE DAY?" Coco cried out in amazement, as an explosion rocked the platform she was on and then tilted forward. "Ahhhhh!" Coco screamed as she began to slide towards the water and from the metallic base.

She began to scream louder when she saw the wide open mouth with teeth waiting for her below…

"And so you see Brio," Crash sighed as he stood outside Brio's jungle base, explaining his story. "That's what happened"  
"Hmm…" the doctor rubbed his chin for a second, thinking. "Well, I may be able to find some stuff out for you, but I will require some…" A loud explosion rocked the jungle. "What the heck was that?" Brio looked about in wonder.  
"It wasn't me…" Crash grinned sheepishly. "Honest!" 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five Restless Natives

"Hmph…" one of the cloaked figured sneered as they stared down from the ramparts of the Native Fortress, green eyes glinting with intelligence in the black at the spectacle down below their balcony seats. The three colleges watched from behind, at the ceremony that was currently taking place before them.  
The natives were all chanting a song in their tribal tongue, bowing and worshiping two altars within the centre of the village. As they chanted, stepping from the largest of the primitive dwellings was a large man, and the hooded figured looked to him, as the man walked out.  
He was tall, yet had a huge belly hanging from a tight grass skirt. Dirty black hair erupted from his head, held in place by a mask of a boar, while painted markings glistened his face.  
"Peh… Papu-Papu…" sneered the largest cloak in the back, yellow slated eyes gazing down in loathing, as the cloaks crossed arms crossed the torso in irritation. "And look, he has the gems as well… Just as we were told"  
In the two hands of the large native, were two large black orbs. Giant black pearls, which the natives fell into awe at upon the sun's glimmer upon them. Papu held them up and all around sunk to their knees before the almighty leader, before he placed them on the two altars.  
"You remember…" a low voice whispered, shiny woeful orbs of brown within the dark of the shroud from the cloak with the long cape from behind.  
"Yes… We all do…" snapped the leader harshly. "Do not worry… We will help you, as we will all help each other… Just as much as brothers and sisters will help one another"  
"Then what are we waiting for?" hissed the final member, watching as they clung to the ceiling of the outpost, hanging above the other members, yellow slit eyes in the dark of the hood. "Let'ssss sssteal them already and then find the final key"  
With a nod, the leader pointed to the top of Papu's dwelling, the jewel adorning the carving upon the front. "Do not forget as well… Those Power Crystals we need as well… We were unfortunate enough to lose the stash of the bandicoots to that fool Neo, but no more"  
A furred black paw clenched a fist from outside the shroud. "We shall succeed… And all who oppose us shall be crushed…"

"Eew…" Coco complained as she scrambled ashore, wiping the saliva from her face and out of her hair. Covered head to toe in sticky, clear mouth fluids, Coco glanced back to the water, Delphi giggling away in the surf, as Spot grinned with his huge orca smile, flashing his teeth. "It's one thing to ride on a dolphin… It's another to ride inside of one"  
Still grinning widely, blowing spray from his blowhole, Spot answered, "Still better than being exploded eh"  
With a small snort of hilarity, Coco answered, "Yeah, thanks Spot and Delphi… even if your methods were a little… Outside of my taste"  
"Taste?" barked Spot, laughing. "I'm gonna have to spend weeks getting the taste of you outta my mouth… You never said you bandicoots tasted so foul"  
"For some strange reason," Coco smiled. "I'm glad to hear that"  
"Oh stop it!" laughed Delphi, rolling around in the water in an uncontrollable fit of mirth. "You're killing me"  
With a smile as she splashed some of the lower surf over her-self, Coco washed what was left of the orca drool off of her-self, before glancing to the shore. It was dense jungle up ahead. She could be at any part of the Wumpa Jungle…  
Then again, she could be within the Native Fortress, and that would not be a good move for her health.  
"Where are we?" Coco asked the children dolphins.  
Both shrugged with their flukes, unsure.  
"Ah… okay then. Some help you are…" Coco chuckled. "I'll have to see if I can find a way back to the house. I'll meet you guys back at N. Sanity Beach sometime soon okay"  
"Okay," Delphi smiled. "And Momma will be there too"  
Then, as they both wheeled about, Coco watched as they headed to deeper waters, waving their fins to Coco, goodbye and thanks to her. A wide smile appeared on her face, as she wondered if Spot and Delphi were to become friends like little Pura was to her…  
"Pura!" Coco slapped her head in sheer stupidity. She quickly hauled out her laptop and checked the data she had. The interruption had corrupted much of the data, but there was details about a secret Ocean Base on the ruins island and also details on how to access the secret switch on the beach to get there…  
Upon checking, Coco moved the cursor to the picture of her tiger, Pura labelled, 'Call Home.' Double clicking, a signal was sent out, handing her location to the computer back at the burrow and suddenly…  
"Dang!" Coco cursed as the computer died, the batteries dead. She was unsure if the message got through or not, so there was no point wasting time…  
She'd have to hike it through the jungle and hope to find her way soon…

"Idiot! Stupid little…!" the huge hologram of Cortex cursed and roared as Cassie knelt before it, taking his harsh words to heart. They were back in the command centre of the Ocean Base, with Komodo Joe watching and snickering in the background. Cortex's eyes were aflame, as his N seemed to shine in the fires of his rage. "Fool! Brat! Useless little worm! How could you allow them to destroy my battle fleet? HOW"  
"I said it wasn't my fault…" Cassie pleaded to the hologram, her voice high and frightful. "I went after the girl one called Coco, and suddenly someone had flipped the self-destruction switch"  
Komodo Joe snickered in the background, as he leant against his scimitar. "Sssome-one isss in the doghoussse now… heh heh"  
"Bah!" Cortex spat in anger to Cassie. "I knew I should never have given the job of guarding that bandicoot to someone like you! Only a real henchman could have truly handled it"  
'Henchman?' Cassie wondered for a moment.  
"But, I am forgiving Cassie… To a degree." The hologram smirked as it stared down its nose to Cassie. "So, I am willing to give you yet another chance… Now, I imagine even someone like you could accomplish this task"  
"What is it?" Cassie asked, looking up to the hologram again.  
"Deep with the Dragon Mines are rumoured to be many, many, many Power Crystals that are down there… However, they are guarded, and we must get them. No matter the cost. Those infernal bandicoots must not befriend them, and gain all the Power Crystals down there… Or all will be lost"  
"Guarded by what? Befriend what?" Cassie enquired.  
Cortex grinned, but did not answer the question. Instead, he answered, "One of my creations will aid you in this mission… Just to help make sure that you don't screw this one up again"  
"Who?" Cassie thumbed towards Komodo Joe. "Him"  
"Oh… No." Cortex snapped, glancing to Joe. "That dunce could never do anything I asked of him right"  
"Hey!" Joe hissed in anger.  
"No, this will be one of my top men…" Cortex beamed upon Cassie. "And here he is right now"  
The door opened and Cassie turned to see a huge monster striding into the room. The face was hidden by a huge gas-mask, though two large ears poked out from the top of the mask and two beady eyes could be seen in the visor of the mask. The bulk was huge, muscle and fat combined to create one large, strong creature. Furry skin was mixed with a scaled belly, as the large trousers pulled over clawed feet, and a reptilian tail erupted from behind.  
A huge tank of flammable liquids was strapped to the back, as a tube rolled from the tank to a gun in the creature's paws. A high-powered flame-thrower…  
Then, it spoke.  
"Aw, dis is dem breaks Cortex! Yer give me the Shelia to baby-sit?"

Coco sighed as she leaned against a tree, looking around for any sign of any familiar ground. But all around was the same…  
Jungle, jungle, jungle…  
"This has to be some unexplored part of the Wumpa Jungle…" Coco said to her-self out loud in wonder. "Hmm… Maybe I should've asked Spot or Delphi for a lift to N. Sanity Beach"  
At the time, the thought hadn't crossed Coco's mind, but now… It seemed a better alternative to tromping through the thick, steamy jungle. With a shrug, she knew it was too late and only way now was forward…  
There seemed to a quiet about the jungle as she stepped into a small clearing. The birds were quiet and the animal growls ceased. She didn't like this feeling of silence around her…  
"Arrrgh!" Coco gave a scream as something tight suddenly clamped around her leg, cold steel cutting the skin. Glancing down, Coco saw the steel man-traps of the natives. "Oh no"  
Coco was indeed deep within the Native Fortress. She knew these man-traps had been a gift from Cortex, to appease the natives and Papu-Papu, and since, they were a popular use in the fortress…  
And having screamed as loud as she did, the natives wouldn't be far off arriving to claim their kill…  
Prying it open with her hands, Coco limped back into the bushes, grasping a stick as a crutch. As soon as she was hidden, there were tribal language calls out around, and several natives appeared, looking about…  
"Cannot got far…" one that knew broken English ordered the others. "Seek them! Bandicoots must be thieves! Took sacred stones… Find. Kill"  
Coco's eyes flew open at this comment. They were thought to be thieves? That wasn't just at all!  
Suddenly a rustling in the bushes behind her and Coco swung around in panic, raising her crutch as a club…  
"Pura!" Coco whispered loudly as the tiger cub appeared. "Am I ever so glad to see you"  
Nodding the tiger cub glanced about, "I saw your computer light up for a second, with your location in the Native Fortress, so I guessed something was up… C'mon! We gotta get outta here… Crash and Brio have some news"  
As Coco saddled her-self upon Pura, there was a sudden scream in tribal callings as one of the natives spotted them. "Go! Go! Go!" Coco cried as she urged Pura onwards, seeing the spears at once fly her way.  
Dashing into the clearing, Pura jumped a man-trap, dodged left as another was set off, then right and right again. The traps were going off like crazy, as Pura, and Coco dodged, missing each one…  
"Meoooooow!" Pura cried as a trap clamped on his tail, dragging behind as he raced into the jungle, following a pathway.  
"Whoa!" Coco called out as two natives released a log at the call of the others. "Duck"  
"I don't care about a stinking bird!" Pura cried as the tiger skidded low under the log, and scrambling his paws on the dirt path, as he raced away, a mob gathering as the natives began to give chase to Coco and Pura.  
Darting into a small temple, Pura and Coco dashed out the darkness into the light, as a long hill down led towards a sight that Coco DID know as a landmark.  
"The Great Gates! There's the exit Pura! Uhh…" she stammered as she glanced behind them, seeing natives attempting to pry away a huge boulder from the temple's roof. "Might I suggest"  
"Heck yah!" Pura cried as his paws scrambled again, taking off down the hill pathway, a loud thud and tremor behind them as the boulder began to roll behind them, chasing them down.  
"Faster! Faster!" Coco screamed as the rock began to pick up speed from a slow start, beginning to gain upon them. The clatter of the trap still on Pura's tail as he dashed as fast as his little legs could carry him.  
The rock began to loom closer and closer and the gates seemed to shrink further and further away as Coco and Pura raced for their lives, the rock determined to crush them both into a bloody pulp.  
"Ahhhhhh!" Coco screamed as she pulled on the fur near Pura's neck as the rock rumbled right behind them, ready to squash them in a few more seconds…  
There was a feeling of lightness for a bit then a loud thud and a heavy tremor, as Coco was thrown from Pura, landing hard upon the ground.  
Sprawled, Coco glanced up, seeing the gates of the Great Gate, shattered and ruined as a huge boulder was held in place from them. Nearby, climbing to his paws and dusting himself off was Pura.  
"Oh Pura!" Coco cried as she threw her arms around her pet's neck, hugging him tight. "We made it! I knew you could do it"  
"Yeah… Yeah…" Pura grinned sheepishly. Then, "You know its all fine and dandy to thank me Coco… But I would much rather prefer you remove this…" he snapped, holding up his tail, still with a metal man-trap clamped onto it. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six  
Here There Be…

"This doesn't get any easier," Coco griped as she sat around the table within Brio's hidden base. Inside the room, Brio sat at the head of the oval table, Coco to the side, with her lap-top upon the bench, with Crash down the far end. Out the window, the moon, nearly full, shone in the sky, among the sea of sparkling stars. "If anything, it gets more and more confusing…"  
Aku-Aku, the mystical mask, floated above the table, listening in on the news that was brought forth to him about the latest maniacal plot from Neo Cortex. "Alright then, let's work out these facts one by one…" Aku nodded to the group.  
"First," Brio began, holding up a finger. "It seems that Cortex is once again after the Power Crystals. Am I right Crash?" Crash nodded his head. "So, we must assume Cortex aims to use them for some sort of machinery."  
"Next," Coco stepped into the conversation. "We have the fact that Cortex has set up several hidden bases. You saw the plans right Crash?" Again, Crash nodded. Coco turned back to Brio and Aku-Aku. "We destroyed the base that was hidden here, but there seems to be others, such as this hidden Ocean Base somewhere hidden on the Ruins Isle."  
"That would make sense," Aku nodded in agreement. "Most of the undiscovered Power Crystals would be upon that very island, hidden and such."  
"Then there are the natives," suggested Brio to the topic. "They are in a major uproar based on the theft of their sacred black pearls. Why would Cortex want…?"  
"And don't forget that female bandicoot working for Cortex!" Coco butted in. "She seems rather strange in on this mix, after Cortex's Evolvo-Ray…" Brio coughed slightly. "Sorry, Brio's Evolvo-Ray was destroyed, I would have thought Cortex would have been unable to create new minions. You haven't seen her yet have you Crash?" Coco asked.  
Crash nodded once again.  
"You have?" Coco blinked in wonder. "Did she say anything to you Crash?"  
Crash nodded.  
"She did? What did she say Crash?"  
Crash nodded again. Then uttered, "A ring a ding ding!"  
"Crash!" Coco snapped as she stood up, walked over to the nodding bandicoot, lifted the earphone from his walkman and screamed into his ear, "WE ARE TRYING TO DISCUSS THE FATE OF THE PLANET! PLEASE PAY ATTENTION AND STOP LISTENING TO THAT CRAZY FROG WILL YOU!"  
"Sheesh," Crash growled, rubbing the inside of his ear with his finger. "No need to shout you know…"  
"Anyway, getting back to what you were saying Coco," Brio continued. "Chances are Cortex would not have created a new Evolvo-Ray, because I was the one who created it, and it was by sheer accident that I ever managed to do so. No, I think this could be an experiment Cortex created prior, but kept in a hypodermic sleep."  
"He could do that?" Crash asked, blinking in wonder.  
"Sure," Brio shrugged. "Didn't you ever wonder why we never heard of Dingodile or such until they first appeared? There's a slim chance he had some more he never used until just recently…"  
Coco cut in, "You said a slim chance. That means that it probably isn't the case…"  
"Probability isn't certainty Coco," Aku added. "There's a good chance that whatever Brio says could be the case, even if it is a slim chance…"  
"Huh?" Crash scratched his head. "Run that by me again…"  
"…But whatever the case," Aku continued. "It does not matter. We must investigate further before any answers will come to light. And we will need all the allies we can muster." Aku glanced down to Crash, "I was called forth by Crunch just recently, when he called for me to help him escape that harbour. He erupted into an elemental frenzy, destroying the base, and landed somewhere within the native's half of the island. His power could be very useful to us.  
"Crash, can I ask you to enter the jungle and find him?"  
"Sure thing Aku." Crash nodded.  
"Coco," Aku turned to. "I imagine the best thing for you to do would be to investigate this Ocean Base. Trusting you, you'll be able to hack the security measures and have no problems in finding out whatever information we can from that base and about Cortex's plot at hand."  
"Sounds good," Coco agreed, folding up her laptop.  
"Take these," Brio tossed three items that looked like wristwatches down the table to the bandicoots. "Using them, you can send messages to me and I can relay anything you want to another person. Give the extra one to Crunch when you find him Crash, so this way we'll all be able to keep in touch."  
"What will you be doing during this Nitrus?" asked Aku-Aku, facing the scientist.  
Shrugging, the doctor answered, "Unlike Crash and Coco, I am neither athletic, nor agile so I figure I'll just hold the team up. I'll stay here and record facts and relay messages to help in any way… Oh! And I'll send out Pura, Polar or Tina, should you need their help in any way."  
"The pieces are falling together," Aku bit his lip. "But I fear we are facing a greater threat than we assume. All keep to your guard. We have no idea what it truly is that we are facing, so…"  
"No worries Aku!" grinned Crash widely. "I'm more than any match for that dope Cortex any day!"  
"Let us hope that remains the way Crash…" Brio answered grimly. "Now, let's all get some rest. First thing in the morning we'd better get a move on."

"Uhh… My head…" groaned a deep voice as he sat up. Crunch lifted his metal paw to his head, feeling a massive headache in his head.  
Glancing about him, the ground was burnt black, as the ashes of trees and such littered the crater in which he sat.  
"Hoo boy," exclaimed Crunch, his eyes wide in shock. "Remind not to accept those powers again. I did all this, and don't remember it? That is some serious…"  
But Crunch didn't finish as a sudden flash of light struck him.

_"What? Now where am I?" growled Crunch before a moment he noticed he was transparent, floating off the ground and feeling very light-headed. "Ahh! I'm dead!" Crunch panicked for a moment, before there was another voice._

_**Dead you are not. We bring to you a vision of the past. Watch…**_

_As Crunch looked to the scene before him, the world was a faded colour, almost greyscale, but with the odd looking tint of colour every once in a while.  
Before him, two young human boys, wearing clothes of the natives of Papu-Papu and face paint as well, were standing over a seed planted in the ground.  
The first boy, a friendly looking native with what appeared to be feathers in his hair stepped up first to the seed in the ground. He uttered some chant in a language Crunch had never heard before, placing his hands around the seed.  
After a few seconds of chanting, there was a glow underneath his hands, and when he lifted them from the seed, there was a small flower in its place.  
Smiling as he stood up and looked to the second boy, the first boy, with the feathers looked pleased with his actions.  
Scowling as he approached the flower, the second boy had a more war-like look to him, angst plastered over his face. His hair was tied with a human bone, as two small bones hung from his ears as earrings.  
Placing his hands around the flower, there was another chant and glow, but this time, the boy fled the flower quickly as a dark glow surrounded the small blossom.  
At once, the flower erupted into an angry, snapping fly-trap, snarling and snapping it teeth, waiting in anticipation for a meal of some sorts._

_Then, everything flashed white…_

"What the heck…?" Crunch gasped as he glanced about again. He was still in his crater in the jungle, but it seemed as if…  
"To hell with this," Crunch snapped as he stood up and started out of the crater and into the jungle. "This is way too creepy for my likings…"

Giving a yawn, Cassie sighed straight after as she followed closely behind the mutant Dingodile. "Why aren't we sleeping?" Cassie moaned as she glanced about. They were both deep into the Dragon Mines, having gone into the mines at Cortex's orders for a 'special something' only Dingodile knew of. "I mean, I'm exhausted. I've been awakened from that capsule for one day, and I haven't even rested yet…"  
"Quit yer whinin' Sheila." Dingodile snapped, lifting his gas mask to talk, the hideous mix of dingo muzzle and crocodile snout smirking at her. "Youse do what Cortex tells yer ta do, and no questions about it. Besides, ya can only do this at night, so ya gotta do it now…"  
Shaking her head, Cassie turned back to the matter at hand. She still didn't know what they were after. "So, can you tell me what we are after then?" Cassie asked, hoping to get some answers.  
"Shh!" Dingodile ordered, as he began to un-strap his gas tank. Placing it to the wall, Dingodile pointed to a small pile of rocks, which seemed to be covering an opening in the wall. Hissing he added, "If yer not wanting to become toasted, yer keep your voice down from now, ya hear?"  
"Okay, okay," groaned Cassie, her voice lowered now. "So what we want is behind there?"  
"Sorta darling," Dingo smirked, as he began to carefully and quietly pull the stones away. As soon as there was a large enough opening, he moved over to let Cassie see into the room.  
Biting her tongue to avoid giving a surprised gasp, Cassie turned back to Dingodile, her eyes wide as she whispered, "Is that… a…?"  
"Yep. She's a beauty isn't she?" Dingodile grinned, flashing his reptilian fangs, pointing back to the opening.  
The opening erupted into a huge cavern, the opening being roughly 100 metres from the ground of the chamber. Inside was a pool of molten magma, but that flowed down a tunnel at the far end.  
But, it was the creature inside that caught Cassie's attention.  
A large lizard, as big as a whale, snoring. But, it wasn't just any lizard. It was a deep scarlet in colouration, a snout similar to Dingodile, only exhaling smoke with every breath, and huge bat-like wings that erupted from the shoulder blades.  
Two horns erupted from the ridge above the eyes as soft ridges rolled down the spinal cord of the creature, a large tail flickering in the heat. Each of the four legs ended in a talon, complete with sharp claws.  
"Them don't call these da Dragon Mines for nothin' ya know," Dingodile hissed to Cassie, who stared in awe at the sleeping behemoth. "These buggers live down the deeper reaches of da mines and its tough-going ta get to dem."  
"Yeah…" Cassie continued to stare, before she remembered that they were here for a reason and this dragon was it. "Uhh… What are we planning to do, if I may ask? Cause if it's to fight that thing, no way am I becoming charcoal…"  
"Settle Sheila," smirked Dingodile. "Not her we want. We wants the crystals them kind has. The Dragon Matriarch is dat there. We just needs to blackmail her to give us them crystals."  
"And pray tell," Cassie asked, turning her attention to the monster. The mouth alone was big enough to swallow Dingodile whole. "How are we gonna do that?"  
Without a word, Dingodile's paw pointed to the opposite end of the cave to where the dragon lay sleeping. Trailing her eyes, Cassie saw and instantly understood what the idea was…  
And, not for the first time, she began to question Cortex's methods and motives…

Dingodile was pointing at two baby dragons, currently wrestling with one another on the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Into the Fire

Tap, tap.  
"Stone…" Coco commented as she rapped her knuckles on a stone idol on the shores of the Ruins Island. The sun was just rising over the horizon, causing the skies to erupt into a frenzy of red and orange hue, as if the skies themselves were on fire. Walking over to the next idol buried in the sand, Coco tapped it with her knuckles, murmuring, "Stone," again.  
Getting into the Ocean Base and finding a computer terminal to link her laptop was the best bet for her-self and the others to find out what was really going on here, with Cortex's plans, that strange female and all the other strange occurrences.  
Clang, clang.  
"Bingo!" Coco grinned widely as she drummed upon a new idol, and metallic sounds came back, instead of stone. Looking up at the large idol, Coco tilted her head noticing how much detail had gone into it to make it look exactly like a normal deity pillar.  
"Now, to open this up…" Coco reached up, feeling around inside the low mouth of the statue. With a click, the tongue slid into place, unlocking the hidden passage into the heart of the problem.  
"Perfect…" Coco cooed as she climbed into the lift.  
Just as she hit the button to descend, there was a loud shriek, and a rumbling, as if an earthquake had just struck. "What in the…?" Coco asked, about to poke her head out to look, but cut off as the doors sealed tight and the lift began to move down.  
"Right," Coco ran past her-self again, ignoring the shriek as the lift continued downwards. "Get in, hack the computers, download the data to my laptop, then get out. Shouldn't be too hard…"

"Oh, man," growled Crunch as she tossed aside a large frond in his way. "Now I remember why I hate living in the jungle."  
There was a snarl to the left, and Crunch swung his fist around, knocking a large fly-trap's teeth right outta its mouth. "Stick to sunlight," Crunch snapped at the now whimpering flower before pressing on.  
Suddenly, there was a faint scream on the wind. An inhuman scream of rage, anger and pain, resounding all over the islands. Crunch blinked in wonder, looking about, for the source of the scream.  
"What was… Oof!" Crunch swayed on his feet for a few moments, before he collapsed over, feeling dizzy and light-headed. Standing over him, was the large chief of the natives, Papu-Papu, his bone club held out from where he'd struck Crunch hard on the head.  
"Take to village," Papu snapped to his followers. "Torture and kill there. Make bandicoots pay for stealing sacred gems." Another scream floated on wind. "Fire god upset. Hurry must. Make bandicoot sacrifice. Maybe leave village unburned."

"Perfect!" Coco grinned as she accessed the console. Clicking the link to open the external port, Coco collected the port cable from her laptop sitting on the desk near her and plugged it into the port and started the download.  
"Now, just to…"  
A metallic hum and whir, then a slicing sound and Coco was seeing her startled face within the reflection of a really sharp scimitar embedded within the wall.  
"That wasss a warning ssshot…" hissed a reptilian voice behind Coco. "I need not missss…"  
"I… I believe you," Coco stammered as she turned back, to see the lizard twins, Komodo Joe and Moe standing there; Joe glaring at her as he spun his spare sword in his hands and Moe scratching his head in wonder of what was going on. "How'd you know I was here? I didn't trip any alarms or…"  
Joe pointed up out the window to a Spy-Cam droid watching through the glass under the water, snickering. "Sssurrender, and I won't cut you into ribbonsss," Joe ordered Coco, his slit eyes glaring madly. "Cortex will be very pleasssed to sssee you captured alive… But dead isss fine asss well."  
Coco's eyes darted about the room, looking for a means of escape or perhaps some way to fight these cold-hearted twins. There was little in the way of weapons in this computer lab, and the doors had been sealed shut tight.  
"Time'sss up!" Joe snarled. "I'm going to enjoy thisss. Moe! Kill her!"  
"Moe kill!" the larger of the twins growled as he advanced towards Coco, lifting his sword high.  
Leaping to the side, Coco avoided the slice attack, Moe cutting the chair Coco had been just sitting in half. With a roar, the Komodo dragon spun his bladed tail, sweeping the feet from underneath Coco.  
Shrieking as she rolled to the side, Moe swinging his sword again, Coco felt a few strands of hair loose contact to her head, before she leapt to her feet. "Okay then," Coco glowered to Moe as she took a fighting stance. "Let's do this! ACK!" Coco cried as she was sent flying across the room, Joe having struck her with a flying kick as she was preoccupied with Moe.  
"Sssorry, Missssie," Joe snickered as he approached the sprawled Coco, running his clawed finger across the blade. "We don't play fair. Moe! Get over here!"  
Leaping to her feet again, Coco tried to calculate the odds she had her against her right now…  
One small smart lizard, who was more about speed than strength and one big dumb one, which was the opposite. And they both had sharp sabres while she had no weapon of her own…  
Taking a step back to the wall, Coco's foot bumped against a large cable. Casting her eyes down for a second, Coco saw a warning symbol on it. A skull with electric bolts around it, warning of high voltage.  
A plan dawned in Coco's head. "You'd let your brother take the credit for killing me?" Coco bluffed to Joe, praying he was egotistical enough to take the bait.  
Komodo Joe snarled, glaring at his brother.  
"Too true," Joe snapped. "I'll finisssh you off my-ssself!"  
Charging Coco, pulling his scimitar to swing, Coco leapt straight up at the last moment; dodging Joe's slashing attack, and aiming her landing. Landing on the ledge of the blade, Coco forced it into the cable with her own weight, leaping straight off straight away as the metal cut deep cable.  
At once, Joe screamed as the electricity coursed through his body, unable to let go of the sword. Coco turned to the dunce Moe, a smirk on her face, "Aren't you gonna help your brother?"  
"Moe help!" Moe growled as he dropped his sword and grabbed onto his brother to pull him loose, at once, Moe shrieking in pain as well.  
Watching the lightshow for a few moments more, Coco covered herself, ready for the explosion…

After the bang, the black lizard twins were left standing for a few moments, before Joe uttered, "Holy… Ssssmoke…" and collapsed, the heavy Moe landing on top of him, both smoking from the electrical discharge.  
"Yes!" Coco punched the air. "Now, all I need to do, is wait for the download to finish and then head on…"  
Everything turned black as the power was cut.  
And somewhere in the darkness, "Oh, now this is just great!"

"Uhh…" Crunch groaned as he came to, his vision reappearing, blurry at first but clearing up as time went by. "Where am I?" He tried to move, but found he was chained to a thick post in the centre of the village.  
"Bandicoot awakens!" Papu-Papu exclaimed, pressing his ugly face right up into Crunch's.  
"Whoa! Hey man, get that thing outta my face! Seriously, you need a license for something so hideous!" Crunch snapped.  
"Be quiet!" Papu ordered, spraying Crunch with spit as he spoke. "Stole our gems you did! Want back we do! Want gems now! Angered fire god you have!"  
"Hoo brother!" Crunch groaned. "And your breath should be illegal!"  
One of the natives shouted something and Papu turned his head to look. Sneering on the rooftop of Papu's house was Crash. Crunch blinked, as Crash looked sinister and laughing, juggling two black stones in his paws.  
"Jewels!" Papu shouted. "Bandicoot give jewels, or friend dies!" Papu shouted, pointing to Crunch.  
"Ha!" Crash sneered, his voice distorted strangely. "What do I care for that big ugly lump? Kill him for all I care! I want this!" And Crash snatched the Power Crystal from the roof of Papu's hut.  
"Crash!" Crunch cried out in shock, his eyes wide in shock.  
"Infidel!" Papu screamed as Crash took the crystal, leaping from roof-top to roof-top to escape the screaming natives. "After him!" As all of the natives gave chase to Crash as he bounded away.  
Crunch glowered to Papu in anger, only he and him left now. "Let me go! I'll teach him a thing or two! I'll crush his bones into a pulp!"  
"You stay!" Papu snapped. "Sacrifice to fire god are you."  
"Oh great…"  
"Wahoo!" another voice called out as suddenly Crash leapt down from Papu's hut, landing a kick squarely on Papu's jaw, the heavy native going down. "Just in the nick of time, eh Crunch?"  
Crunch just glowered at Crash.  
"Let me get you outta these," Crash answered as he pulled apart the chains. "Good thing I came here otherwise you may off…"  
With his metallic paw free, Crunch sent Crash flying with a powerful sock to the jaw, the smaller bandicoot landing several feet away. Ripping his other arm free, Crunch glowered in anger, approaching Crash.  
"Hey! What's your problem?" Crash groaned, holding his jaw in place.  
"My problem!" Crunch roared. "Your problem more like it! You stole the gems these natives are so pissed at us for and then you steal the Power Crystal and then you announce you are leaving me for dead… And then you have the cheek to ask what is my problem!"  
"Whoa!" Crash jumped away as Crunch slammed the ground, sending cracks along the pebbly earth. "What the heck are you talking about? I just got here!"  
"Stop lying!" Crunch roared, swinging around with another punch, but missing as Crash ducked. "I saw you with my own eyes!"  
"Maybe you need glasses then," Crash commented as he leapt another attack, this time leaping towards Crunch and knocking the bigger bandicoot back with an aerial spin attack. "Cause I didn't do it!"  
Landing a few feet away, Crunch roared again in anger, flexing his muscles, a vein twitching in his eye, ready to charge and crush Crash once and for all.  
"Ahh! Fire god!" Papu screamed as he awoke, running away from the scene as fast as he could run.  
"What the…" Crunch began, watching the fleeing fat man, before his words were drowned by an almighty scream.  
Turning, Crash and Crunch leapt for cover as a large scarlet creature dove into the village, vomiting flames from its throat. Landing heavily, the creature screamed again, spinning around, stomping its clawed talons.  
"A dragon?" Crash blinked, his eyes wide.  
Jumping as the swinging tail smashed several buildings around him, Crash dove to safety, while the flames began to spread from the huts to the jungle, heat and yellow filling all around.  
Then, within a few seconds of utter chaos and destruction, the dragon lifted off, taking to the skies again, leaving the flaming, shattered ruins of the native's village behind in its wake.  
"Crunch!" Crash called out over the roaring inferno. "Crunch, where are you?"  
Then, on the other side of a rising wall of flames, Crash spotted Crunch glowering at him. "We'll finish this later Crash!" Crunch screamed, his eyes as hot as the flames around them, before the bandicoot disappeared behind the wall of fire.  
"I gotta get outta here," Crash panted as he glanced about, finding a gap in the wall created by the dragon, and making a beeline for it and out of the firestorm.  
"Just what the heck is going on here?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Disco Inferno

'What was all that about?' Crash pondered to himself as he sat back in his ferry. The automated boat bounced on the waves as Crash looked to the Ruins Island, and the spectacle occurring around its mountain's perimeter.  
The scarlet dragon that attacked Papu's village was screaming, roaring and spewing flames of anger as it flew around the mountain. Crash knew, even though the top was coated in snow, that the island was in actual fact, an active volcano. The mines into the mountain, labelled the 'Dragon Mines' by Cortex, had been inactive for years, since Cash foiled Cortex's first attempt to conquer the world.  
"I wonder…" Crash thought for a moment upon reflecting upon the mine's name and the strange happenings of late. "Could Cortex have known there were REAL dragons from the start?"  
Frowning slightly as the boat drew closer to the dock, Crash nodded to himself. The dragon at the moment was the key. He had to get to the dragon somehow, without being flamed into extra crispy Crash.  
Shrugging, Crash muttered to himself, "A heroes' work is never done…"

Cassie watched as Dingodile yanked more on the chain, hauling the two baby dragons in a cage from the opening below in the mines. In her paws, she clutched two Power Crystals that she'd uncovered in the dragon's hoard. To the side, ten Lab Assistant androids waited for orders.  
They were on a large plateau that sat halfway up the mountains, the roaring and screaming of the mother dragon ringing in their ears.  
"You take them beauties," grinned Dingodile as he tugged more on the chain, tying it to the peg in the ground and suspending the fledglings from the ground in their cage, the two infants squealing and squawking.  
"Momma! Momma!"  
Frowning slightly, Cassie questioned Cortex's methods here. For someone who claimed to be on the side of good, his methods were rather… ruthless.  
"Dingodile?" Cassie asked, as the freak of nature began messing about with a crate near the cliff's ledge. "What do you want me to do?"  
"Take them crystals down ta da docks and on Cortex's ship. Use the gondolier there. I'll be taking care of things here now."  
"What are you going to do?" Cassie asked as she watched Dingodile haul several long chains, a muzzle and pegs and more from the crate. The androids at once started to plant pegs into the ground and chaining them and the muzzle.  
Dingodile pulled back from the crate, piecing together a long pole. Then, once the pole was complete, he grasped the final item and fixed it to the head. A sharp barbed harpoon head.  
"I'm a gonna nets me a dragon," smirked Dingodile, holding the harpoon proudly.

"Oh this really helps…" snarled Coco in the dark.  
Since she'd cut the power to the Ocean Base, there were no lights, no power to open doors or work lifts. She was stranded where she was.  
She thanked her lucky stars she'd been carrying a flashlight with her, but she wasn't sure how long the batteries would hold out. Coco had to find an exit soon, and then her brother.  
"Brio? Brio? Are you there?" she asked the wrist transmitter, but there was no reply. She must have been out of signal.  
Sighing, Coco resumed her wandering, eternally seeking an exit to this underwater labyrinth.

'This doesn't seem right…' Cassie growled to herself as she carried the crystals down to the beach. 'Something doesn't make any sense…'  
Turning back to the mountain, Cassie was 'lucky' enough to spot the moment she feared that was going to happen.  
The huge red dragon flew towards the mountain ledge where Dingodile was waiting. In a flash, there was a sound of a gun shot and the dragon faltered in mid-flight. Her heart leaping into her throat, Cassie watched as the dragon was yanked towards the mountain, the harpoon attached to a chain.  
Screams of pain and fury echoed throughout the island as the dragon, with the harpoon impaled in her chest, was lashed down to the ground and muzzled, mere inches from her babies.  
"Oh my god…" Cassie whispered in shock, clutching the Crystals and leaning against a tree for support. Was she working for the right team?  
There was a slithering feeling around her left leg suddenly, but before Cassie had a chance to react, in yanked her straight up into the air. "Aiiieee!" Cassie shrieked as she felt something lash her feet to the branch.  
Three thuds followed, as Cassie realized her Power Crystals and her transmitter to Dingodile had fallen off as she was left hanging upside down, struggling to free her-self. "Whose there?" she barked. "Show yourself!"  
"My, my…" smiled a figure as it approached. "Power Crystals. Very nice…" Cassie spun around to look at the figure. It wore blue jeans, with black shoes and fingerless gloves. Its fur was orange, and it had a cheesy grin to his face.  
Cassie knew at once, this was another of the Bandicoots. "Hey! You!" Cassie snapped. "Don't you dare! Those Crystals are mine!"  
"Correction," the bandicoot smirked up at Cassie. "Were yours." The bandicoot gathered the two crystals and then looked up to Cassie. "Sorry to leave you hanging like so, but you look all tied up to me…"  
"Hey!" a loud voice, gruff and harsh sounding, barked. "We don't have time for your time wasting! What I want is up that mountain, and you have to help me!" Walking into view was a large hulking figure, shrouded in a black cape. "You and your foolish games can wait until later!"  
"Peh! Ruin all my fun!" the bandicoot snarled at the hooded figure. Turning to Cassie, holding the crystals in one paw, he waved, "Ta-ta darling. Just keep in cool and hang about for a while…"

"Ah yes," Dingodile crooned as he approached the hulking dragon, leashed to the ground. "Cortex will be very pleased with the likes of you Sheila."  
The huge scarlet beast was covered with scales, with vicious claws and teeth all around. But something that Dingodile enjoyed looking upon was the stone on the forehead. A huge shiny gem of scarlet, erupting from the brain, through the skull and out of the forehead was what Dingodile enjoyed looking upon. "Heh, the sign o' the Matriarch you express. The Draconite jewel within yer brain bloated ta huge sizes, like a crown of a bloody king…"  
The massive dragon struggled against the chains, specks of flame erupting from the muzzle as the dragon growled. "Check 'er bonds you!" Dingodile ordered to one of the last two surviving androids.  
As soon as the droid approached near the muzzle, a stream of molten flame erupted, covering the android. Taking a step back from the intense heat, Dingodile watched as the inferno ceased and all that was left of the android, was a pool of melted metal on the ground.  
"Heh heh heh…" Dingodile chuckled. "Feisty one isn't we? We'll soon fix that moody streak of yers." Waddling over to the cage, the keys to the bonds and cage jingling from the clip on his waist, Dingodile reached into the cage and grasped the pink infant by her wings, the blue one snapping at Dingodile's paw that was held out of reach.  
"Tell me where yer stash of Crystals is," Dingodile snapped, glaring at the mother dragon. "Or I'll toss this one ova tha cliff. I don't think them can fly yet, can they? Heh heh…"  
"Leave them alone!" the mother roared through her muzzle.  
"Then you tells me where tha… Oof!" Dingodile cried as something hit him from behind, causing him to drop the infant and fall flat on his face.  
"Picking on babies! That's a new low even for you Dingodile!" Crash smarted as he stood upon the cage with the fledglings within.  
"You!" Dingodile snapped in anger, baring his reptilian teeth. "Ooh, I've been waitin' for this here day for some time." Jumping over to his flamethrower pack, Dingodile swung it onto his back and roared into his transmitter, "Cassie! Git yer ass back up here! We're gonna make toast outta this here bandicoot!"

"Uhh!" Cassie groaned as she swung, trying to figure out a way to get loose.  
A static voice from below her, the transmitter on the ground, called out, "Cassie! Git yer ass back up here! We're gonna make toast outta this here bandicoot!"  
"What!" Cassie blinked, before she growled in anger. She wanted revenge against that bandicoot for leaving her hanging like this.  
Swinging from side to side, Cassie swung her arm up, trying to catch the branch. One miss, two misses, three m…  
Grasping on the third attempt at the last second, Cassie hauled her-self up, groaning in pain, as she pulled the rope to loosen the knot.  
With a thump, she landed heavily on her backside on the ground, rubbing it as she got up. "I need a day off…" As she hurried as fast as she could to the lift.

"Whoa!" Crash commented, as he jumped to the side, missing a steady stream of flame as Dingodile torched about, seeking a bandicoot barbeque. Flames were burning all around them, from whatever was flammable, having been ignited already  
"Yer can't run forever Crash!" laughed Dingodile as he fired madly from his flamethrower. "I'll get yer sooner or later!"  
"Not if I get you first!" Crash barked as he leapt over a fireball, connecting his feet with Dingodile's face.  
Stumbling back, Dingodile groaned, "Aw! Right in da kisser!" before he picked up his flamethrower and blasted again, Crash leaping to the side. Charging for another attack, Crash was countered this time by Dingodile, swinging his large fuel tank as a club.  
"Ha ha!" Dingodile sneered as Crash was sent flying with a metallic thud. "Yer gotta be faster ter get me!"  
Groaning, Crash leapt to his feet, ready to continue fighting. His eyes widened and Crash leapt behind a rock, cowering behind it.  
"Huh?" Dingodile blinked at Crash's actions as he turned to see all three of the dragons shielding themselves with their wings. "What's wrong with the lot of ya then?" Dingodile asked, as his eyes fell upon something on the ground.  
The metallic cap to his fuel tank, having been dislodged from his swatting Crash away with the tank, was lying on the ground.  
Spinning around, Dingodile saw a line of flame following the trail of gasoline, up towards the pumping out of his tank. "Oh bother," Dingodile moaned, his ears down-turned, eyes wide and lip trembling as he knew what was coming next.  
With an explosion and a scream, Crash turned back to see a trail of black smoke rising high into the sky, a small, screaming dot getting further and further away.  
There was a tingling sound, as several ash covered keys landed in the crater where Dingodile once stood. Dashing over to the keys, Crash, coughing at all the smoke, gathered them and dashed over to the large dragon. "Don't worry. I'll have you free in a moment or two…"  
Fumbling with the keys, Crash found the key for the front lock and clicked it out.  
Without a second's wasting, the massive dragon yanked her talons free, tearing the chains to shreds, causing Crash to take a few steps back...  
WHAM!  
Next thing Crash knew, he was pinned to the ground by the massive talon of the dragon, between two razor sharp claws, as the massive lizard used the other front talon to yank off the muzzle from her face and snarl with her teeth down at Crash, flashing her stained ivories at the morsel before her.

Crash swallowed in fear, realizing he'd made a fatal mistake…


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Prying Ears

Cassie panted as she leapt from the cable car up towards where Dingodile and the bandicoot had been prior to the fight. 'I've got to get back there…' she snarled to her-self. 'Help Dingodile…'  
"Blast!" a gruff voice around the rocks snapped. At once, Cassie recognized it as the voice of the hooded figure from before. Darting behind a rock, Cassie peeked out, prying in on the conversation.  
As she watched, four hooded figures appeared, wearing black robes. The largest of the group seemed to be pouting from their body language, annoyed and growling in their gruff tone. "Missed my chance for revenge… No way I'll attack when not at full strength… There's no challenge in that…" Red slatted eyes glowered out from the darkness of the hood.  
"Don't worry," sneered another in a cloak, the smallest one. Their voice seemed oddly familiar, yet again it wasn't. Smaller, yellow slit eyes stared out, smiling in amusement. "There'll be another chance later on… There always is."  
The last member, at the back of the group, their cloak trailing further back like a robe, whispered out in a sweet, low voice, "Please… can we try to find the last key? I long for my desires…" as sorrowful black eyes glittered with near tears within the darkness.  
The last member remained silent. They kept on walking ahead of the group, golden eyes staring, as the others stared to them as if to ask for advice, while they ignored the stares and just kept walking towards the cable car, unmoved by the stares.  
As soon as all three were gone, Cassie stood up, wondering who they were, and what their connection with the bandicoots was…  
Following the pathway, Cassie turned a corner, almost gave a yelp and jumped back, her paw covering her mouth from yelling.  
The big dragon was free!  
Poking her head around the corner again, Cassie watched and listened as the dragon glowered down towards the same bandicoot that had attacked Cassie, pinned underneath her massive talons.

"Uhh…" Crash groaned as he tried to break free to no avail. The dragon had him down tight. All it would take was a firm press, a snort of fire or even a quick snap of her jaws and it was all over. Crash could even see how terrified he truly was, his face reflected in her jewelled forehead.  
The dragon stared down, baring her teeth and considering Crash trapped within her grasp.  
Then suddenly, there was a release of pressure as the dragon lifted her talon, freeing Crash. "Huh? What the…?" Crash blinked, as he stared up at the massive dragon that had him dead to rights.  
"Free my young…" the dragon ordered.  
"Uhh… Sure…" Crash stammered in shock. Slowly crawling to his feet, Crash glanced up as the large dragon watched his every movement. Fumbling with the keys, his paws shaking in shock, Crash inserted the key into the cage's lock and twisted, popping the lock.  
"Momma! Momma!" the young pink dragon cried as it leapt from the cage, dashing over to the larger dragon, lying on the cliff. The blue one took it's time a little, seemingly staring over Crash, as if a little untrusting of the bandicoot.  
"Oh, Spark…" cooed the mother as she nuzzled her head into the smaller pink dragon, before turning to the blue one as it drew closer, "And you too Scorch. I feared I'd lost you two…" As she embraced the two young, Crash nodded to himself and decided to shrink away from the scene.  
A thud as the large scarlet tail threw itself in his way, cutting his exit. "Leaving so soon?" the larger dragon asked from behind. Crash's ears drooped as he feared what was coming next as he turned. But instead of a glaring face, the large dragon's face was smiling and welcoming towards Crash. "You have saved me and my young, yet you ask nothing of us. I am curious as to why…"  
Crash shrugged, "I thought it was the right thing to do… After all, that git Dingodile didn't have any right to use you like that."  
The large dragon blinked, tilting her head. "I see… So you just help out those in need? That is very noble and very brave of you. For many eons we dragon kind have been hated and loathed by mankind, used and abused by the humans for their own selfish purposes, forcing us all into refuge in the deep mountains, most in a state of deep hibernation lasting thousands of years. Yet you come to us, offering help without asking anything of us… Never in our long history have we ever met such kindness."  
Crash grinned to the dragon, "You're more than welcome."  
"I am Ember," the dragon introduced her-self. "And I am the dragon matriarch of these lands. These are my fledglings, Scorch and Spark."  
"Name's Crash Bandicoot," Crash smiled as he introduced himself to Ember, unsure if he should bow or something. Then, Crash's face frowned slightly, "What exactly were they after do you know? I mean, I don't understand the reasoning to attacking you unless they wanted something…"  
"Oh yes," Ember nodded to Crash. "They were after the Power Crystals from my secret treasure hoard, and were willing to kill my fledglings for them."  
"Momma has lotsa shiny jewels," giggled the infant girl dragon, Spark. "They all hidden at top of mountain. With all the fluffy snow…"  
"Spark! Stop telling people about Mother's treasure!" snapped the blue one, Scorch, his attitude glowering towards his sister.  
"That's enough you two!" snapped Ember, the mother glowering towards the two of them.  
"Makes sense then," Crash nodded to Ember. "If you have Power Crystals, you will be harassed by them until they know you don't have them anymore…"  
Ember stared at Crash for a moment. "And why do they want the Power Crystals anyway?"  
"To power some sort of weapon used to destroy this world… Cortex always uses the destructive powers of the crystals for this method."  
Ember took it in, then nodded to Crash. "Well then, can I entrust you with the crystals perhaps? To watch over them until this time of crisis is over?"  
"Of course," Crash grinned. Ember made a move to stand up, and Crash then saw the harpoon, still embedded within her chest, moments before the dragon collapsed again. "Whoa… Take it easy Ember," Crash suggested. "That harpoon looks nasty…"  
"Hurts a bit…" Ember growled as she folded her wings and rolled her body over, the harpoon in her heart pointing to the sky. Grasping it with her four talons, Ember then pulled the blood-stained harpoon from her and tossed it aside. "But we dragons are fast healers… I be able to get up that mountain…" she collapsed again as she tried to stand. Panting a few moments, she growled, "In a few hours maybe. Scorch, Spark, I want you two to lead our friend here to the top of the mountain to the secret cave. Lead him to all the crystals and let him take them. I'll come back for you all when I am done healing…"  
"Ok Momma," Spark smiled.  
"Yeah, sure, whatever…" Scorch puffed smoke.  
"And lose that attitude Scorch," Ember snarled at her child.

'They are at the top of the mountain?' Cassie blinked as she eavesdropped again on the conversation between Crash and the dragon.  
Cassie knew better than to try and press her luck with the dragons. After all, the three dragons all knew that it was her that had captured the infants, and Cassie doubted she'd have much of a warm welcome with the mother after that.  
"Best bet is to tail them," Cassie murmured to her-self as she watched Crash and the baby dragons take the trail from the plateau up the mountain. The cable car would be faster, and Cassie would also be able to find the location of the trail and follow them from behind.  
Then, when the time was right, she'd attack that bandicoot back for attacking her and take the crystals for Cortex her-self.  
But this time, she'd do it her way. No taking hostages or cheap tricks…  
She clenched her paw into a fist. It'd be a straight fist to fist fight between her and the bandicoot.

"Phase one is completed Dr. Cortex," N. Gin laughed with his metallic whining, as he turned to the doctor from his computer console, grinning wildly.  
Cortex stared out of the window from his tower, glancing at the islands. How those foolish bandicoots had no idea of their plans… And how they were following all the bait, like rats to a trap… Wringing his fingers in glee, Cortex felt so pleased at himself.  
"Perfect… Everything is moving along nicely," chuckled Cortex as he turned from the window back to N. Gin, and the computer consoles. "Initiate phase two. Launch all the attack blimps… It's time we started to bomb these islands into oblivion!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten  
Heart of Ice

"Brrr…" Crash shivered as the warm volcanic rocks soon gave way to colder, snow-coated soil, as the winding dirt path scrolled further up the volcano. Ahead, the two dragon whelps scaled the mountain path easily, looking back to the bandicoot to make sure he wasn't too far behind.  
"Come on… Come on…" the blue fledgling Scorch barked, glancing at Crash who was a fair distance behind him.  
"Hold onto your tail…" panted Crash. "You may be skilled at this, but I'm no mountain climber."  
Puffing a cloud of smoke in annoyance, the blue dragon turned away, continuing the steep mountain path, flicking his tail in detest. The little pink one, Spark, turned back to Crash, "Don't mind him," she smiled sweetly. "He's just got issues with making friends…"  
"It's ok I guess," Crash shrugged, as he attempted to haul himself up to the ledge where Spark stood looking down from. Scrambling a bit, Crash's fingers gave loose to the icy soil and he slipped back to the lower level, grumbling to himself.  
With a small smile, Spark turned her butt towards Crash, allowing her tail over the ledge. "Grab onto this and I'll help you…"  
Wrapping his freezing fingers around Spark's warm tail, Crash held on as the little dragon, with a surprisingly large amount of strength for such a small thing, hauled Crash up onto the ledge. "Thanks," Crash grinned, as he stroked Spark's head for a moment, the dragon giving a chitterling sound of content to the gesture.  
"Hurry it up you two!" shouted Scorch from a larger distance ahead now. Though, he usually sounded mocking and nasty in his actions, Scorch's voice actually sounded slightly excited this time. "The top is just up here!"  
"Alright!" Crash gave the blue dragon thumbs up. "We'll be up there in a few moments…"

Cassie glanced about, shivering slightly as she trudged through the deep snow. The air was thin up here, and the temperature very cold. "Oh man…" she shivered. "I so should've brought a thicker coat of fur…"  
As she waded through the knee deep snow, her arms wrapped around her for warmth, Cassie wondered where the pathway to these higher ledges was. The open plateau of snow rested near the crater of the volcano, where a large deep hot spring rested. It looked heavenly to go for a dip, but to go from cold to hot then to cold again, Cassie was sure that wouldn't be such a wise move on her own behalf.  
As she walked along the cliff ledge, Cassie was sure she'd eventually find where the pathway came to this icy paradise, and there she'd wait for Crash, ready to ambush the bandicoot.  
"Hurry it up you two!" a voice whispered on the cold winds, and Cassie froze in place, her ears twitching to the sounds.  
Kneeling down and peeking over the ledge onto the deep oblivion of a drop from the summit to the ground, Cassie spotted a blue dragon on the pathway below, the same one she'd captured. And a bit further down, she could just make out the pink baby and the bandicoot. They were still scaling the climbing path.  
Running ahead in the direction of the path that the blue dragon followed, Cassie finally found the end of the path, to where the dragons and bandicoot would emerge. Spying several snow-coated trees nearby, Cassie leapt behind one, watching and waiting…  
When the moment was right, she'd pounce and get that bandicoot for stringing here up to that tree…

A deep sigh echoed through the darkness as a shimmering light flickered once, twice, and then finally and ultimately died.  
"Well, that's that…" Coco moaned as she sat down on the spot where she'd lay. She'd been spending the last few hours exploring the power-lost base in search of a means to escape, but to no avail. Now, with her torches batteries finally dead, and nothing to help her find escape, she accepted the fact, that she was to die here…  
"Aku? Aku-Aku? Can you hear me?" She called out, hoping the mask would hear her pleas.  
But there was no answer. The mask could not hear her voice. No-one could…  
"Well, you gave it your all Coco," she whimpered, as she began to cry. "But it just wasn't good enough. Looks like Cortex got you in the end…"  
As she sobbed, there was a distant, faint and static echo from some nearby intercom, as it crackled into life and a few low dimmed lights lit up. "Dr. Cortex has sent me to rescue you…" the voice of Nina Cortex. "He restored minimal power to a few functions so I could get you out of here. Though he was most considering letting you two lizards rot in here."  
"Thank you Misssss Cortex," the voice of Komodo Joe hissed.  
"But," Nina ordered. "There is one thing he wants you to do, in case any of the bandicoots are still in here, and he expects you not to ask questions."  
"Of courssse."  
Coco's heart leapt into her throat as she heard Nina growl the next words that most probably sealed her own fate.  
"Flood the place completely. And get your idiotbrother off of leaning on that intercom!"

Panting as she pulled forward, Crash clinging to her tail, Spark pulled the bandicoot over the ledge and onto the large plateau of sleet and snow. Collapsing in a heap, Spark lay there resting, her tongue hanging from her mouth, rather like a dog.  
"Thanks for all your help Spark," Crash commended, as he stroked the dragon's neck again. "Never could have done it without you…"  
Spark cooed again, comforted by the touch of Crash's furry hands.  
"This way!" Scorch called out, the male dragon pointing to a pile of snow he was melting with his tiny flame breath. "The treasure is in here!"  
"Alright!" Crash started as he stood up, heading towards Scorch. "Now, all we need is to…"  
"Ya!" a voice called out, as Crash turned, to she a foot connect with his face, sending him sprawling back into the snow. At once, Scorch and Spark hissed, raising their wings and scales to make them appear bigger as a scene from their recent past reappeared.  
Clutching his sore jaw, Crash looked up again to see his attacker. It was a bandicoot, no doubt, with short blonde hair like Coco, though it was held in place with a hair-band. A purple shirt and light blue trousers she was dressed in, as a gold bangle dangled from the left wrist and a necklace of a heart from the neck. Her eyes stared in a fiery passion that could be described only as one word…  
Revenge.  
"You!" Crash barked, pointing his finger in accusation. "You're that female Coco told me about!"  
"Oh yeah…" the female smirked, as she took a fighting stance in case Crash attacked while she was surprised. "My name's Cassie and I've got a bone to pick with you, Crash Bandicoot."  
"What are you talking about?" Crash blinked, bracing him-self for another attack if it came. "What have I ever done to you? I've never even seen you before!"  
"Liar!" Cassie snapped. "You hung me upside down from a tree, don't you remember? And you also took my Power Crystals…"  
Spark was hissing towards Cassie, taking steps back from the bandicoots, towards the ledge and away from the trees where the two marsupials prepared to face off. Scorch looked about ready to charge Cassie, eyeing up for the perfect moment to strike.  
Crash blinked, "What are you talking about? I've never met you, nor do I have any Power Crystals on me at the moment…"  
Sneering, her upper lip curling, Cassie charged forward, drawing back her fist, "Maybe this'll jog your memory then!"

"Ah! Crud!" Coco cursed as the rising water began to reach her waist. She didn't have much time to find an escape route. The entire base was flooding fast and time was running out just as fast.  
Wading as fast as she could, Coco panicking in her search for an exit, Coco raced through corridors low lights helping to light the way. This was getting dire by the moment passed.  
Tap! Tap! "Coco?"  
Coco spun around, looking for the source of the voice, but there was no-one in the corridor with her. The water was now to her chest.  
"Out here!" the voice called again.  
Glancing out the window, Coco spotted the faint shadow outlines of two dolphins and a killer whale. "Gleam! Is that you?"  
"Aye! And Spot and Delphi are with me too," the larger figure nodded in the gloom. "We spotted you just now and you look in trouble…"  
"Yeah!" Coco panicked as the water was now to her neck. "Can you get me out?"  
There was a pause, then, "Take a really deep breath now… and hold onto that bar beside you tight!"  
Sucking in as much oxygen as she could and wrapping her arms around the metal bar, Coco's mouth was now submerged as there was a slamming sound, a loud cracking, and then another slam and a smash as the window was shattered.  
Thrown about as more water was rushed into the tunnel, Coco clung to the pipe as hard as she could, holding her breath as tight as she could. "Grab on!" a voice called next to her. As Coco opened her eyes, she saw Gleam there, offering her dorsal as she fought against the current.  
Grabbing the dorsal with her paws, Coco clung for dear life as Gleam raced out of the pipe and headed for the surface as fast as her flukes could take her…

"Gah!" Crash growled as he threw the female from him, and into a tree.  
"Ah!" Cassie squealed in momentary pain, before she leapt back up, charging Crash again. Swinging her punch, Crash grabbed the fist, spinning his body around and tossing Cassie again a fair distance, the bandicoot landing in the snow.  
"Grr!" Cassie growled as she leapt up, ready to attack Crash back, when…  
"Yeow!" Cassie screamed as a set of finely sharp jaws clamped about her butt. Scorch, having seized the chance, latched himself onto the bandicoot's behind. "Get off you!" Cassie cried out as she danced about, trying to shake the dragon from her caboose.  
Losing his grip, Scorch let go and Cassie leapt a small distance away, rubbing her tender behind in pain as Crash charged up to Cassie, connecting the female's stomach with his foot.  
Landing near the cliff ledge, nearby the cowering Spark, Cassie climbed to her feet shakily, before suddenly sinking to her knees in the snow, begging as her eyes wept tears. "Please… No more!" she knelt there, bruised and battered before Crash. "Just kill me and be over with it…"  
Blinking in amazement, Crash stumbled upon his words, "K-kill you? What on Earth do you mean? I never had any intention to kill you…"  
"But… But," Cassie pleaded, looking up to Crash, her face streaming frozen tears. "Cortex told me that you and your friends have tried to kill me before… That you want to take over the world…"  
"He what?" Crash gasped, realizing what was going on now.

"Dr. Cortex! Dr. Cortex!" N. Gin panicked, pointing with his chubby finger to the screen. "Look! Cassie has lost to Crash!"  
"WHAT?" roared Cortex, swinging around to view the screen and see what had just happened. Indeed, there was Cassie kneeling before Crash, crying and pleading, near the cliff's ledge. Snarling, Cortex knew all too well what would happen from here.  
Crash would explain everything, undo all of Cortex's lies and he would offer Cassie friendship. Creating yet another infernal bandicoot foe for Cortex to have to contend with through his actions.  
And this time, Cortex would not allow it.  
Pressing a button, Cortex ordered to N. Gin as he took the joystick that appeared in hand, the screen gaining a cross-hair, "Tell the crew in that blimp to prepare to fire!"

"You… You mean…" Cassie stuttered as she grovelled in the sleet. "That Cortex tricked me? That he lied to me?"  
Nodding Crash answered her. "Don't feel too bad. Cortex's done it to me a fair few times before as well. But if you join us, join our family, you can help us stop him." Winking to Cassie, Crash added, "After all, all the more friends we have, the merrier…"  
Looking up, wiping away her tears with her hand, Cassie beamed, "You… You'd do that? You'd forgive me for everything and you'd…"  
But Cassie's words were cut as a laser blasted the ground between them. Knocked back, Crash recovered and glanced forward just in the nick of time, to see Cassie and Spark screaming as their slab of earth ledge started to give way and slide into oblivion…


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Ten

Mad Bombers

Breaking through the surface, gasping for air, Coco panted, as she clung to Gleam, her body weak and limp from the exhaustion of holding onto both her breath and Gleam's dorsal. "We… We made it…" Coco smiled weakly.  
"Did you have any doubt?" laughed Spot, the orca child smiling widely.  
"Yeah!" Delphi snapped, though her voice was laughing like a child. "Have some faith in us would you?"  
"All right, all right you two…" chuckled Gleam as she slowly moved back towards the beach, allowing for Coco to easily hold on. "Enough of that. Coco can't hold her breath as well as we can… She is a land-dweller after all remember?"  
Coco smiled weakly as they cruised back to the shore, her feet dragging along the sandy bottom as they got closer to the shore. "Thanks Gleam. Thanks all of you…" she waved as she hauled her sorry and soggy butt from the waters.  
"Coco…" Gleam called out. Her voice was firm and emotionless and her eyes worried as she looked to the bandicoot. "The other dolphins sing of an age long past, about to occur again. A convergence that has not occurred in thousands of years…"  
Blinking, Coco asked, "What? What do you mean?"  
Shaking her head, Gleam replied, "The songs are tainted by the decay of time. They are more myth and story than fact now, so I cannot tell much. Though, there are others that were around in this time, who may be able to explain more…"  
"Really?" Coco asked, her face screwed up in wonder. "And who are they?"  
But before Gleam could answer, there was the sound of several explosions, as several bombs were dropped upon the mountain-side. Then, a roar that shook the trees, as a large scarlet lizard erupted from the mountains, flying upwards on huge bat-like wings to the foggy upper regions of the Fire Mountain.  
Watching in awe, Coco did not even hear Gleam's statement.  
"The dragon-kind."

"Ahhh!" Cassie screamed, trembling in fright.  
"Don't look down! Don't look down!" Crash ordered, as he clung to Scorch's tail over the cliff, clutching to Cassie's paw, as Spark clung to Cassie's boot with her baby teeth, whimpering in terror her-self. The group dangerously hung over the cliff-face, mere moments from falling a few hundred feet to a bloody and gruesome fate. "Scorch! Pull us back up will you?"  
"You think?" the blue dragon spat, as he strained to pull forward through the snowy terrain. "I'm trying already… But it's… too heavy!"  
Cassie's eyes watched fearfully as she glanced upwards, and then back down. Her hand slipped and she screamed, as Crash's grip tightened around her paw. "Please… Don't let me fall!"  
"I don't… plan on it!" Crash growled back, straining himself to hold onto the sharp scales of the dragon infant and the paw of the dangling bandicoot. "Just don't let go!"  
"Crash!" Cassie panicked, her eye dangling down. "My shoe! It's slipping off!"  
"A fine time to worry about a shoe!" the voice of Scorch barked from over the cliff-face.  
"It's not that Scorch!" Crash roared. "It's Spark! She's hanging onto the shoe! Pull us up… Quick!"  
There was a lurch upwards, as Scorch gave a mighty heave forward, pulling hard forward. He had to save them all… Help them up the cliff…  
Suddenly, with a potent heave, Scorch pulled forward, the group being hauled over the cliff and back to safety of ground beneath their feet. With a groan of fatigue, Scorch slumped forward, exhausted.  
There was faint screaming and a shout of "No!" from Crash as Cassie was observed with the one shoe gone from her foot. "Spark…" Crash spoke softly as he realized what had happened to her.  
Crawling to the edge to see, Cassie peeked over the ledge, expecting to see a tumbling pink figure, or perhaps a tiny bloodied mess on the rocks below…  
"I did it! I did it!" a torpedo of pink shouted as it shot upwards. Stopping for a second, floating in the sky, the pink dragon Spark was grinning wildly, her wings spread at full, flying. "Look brother! I'm flying like mother!"  
Crash, Cassie and Scorch all looked to the smaller pink figure, faces wide with smiles.  
"Wow… for a second there," Crash murmured. "I thought you were a goner!"  
"Yeah… I screamed a bit…" Spark blushed slightly. "But I just opened my wings in my panic and now… I'm flying!" she screamed, her voice excited and loud.  
"Screamed?" Cassie asked, her eyes wide. "But when you scream doesn't that attract your--"  
There was a flash of silvery teeth, and Cassie disappeared as Ember, the dragon matriarch lifted her head, with a mouthful of bandicoot, tossing her head backwards…  
"Ember!" Crash roared, pointing up at the larger dragon. "Don't you dare swallow! You hear me! Don't you dare swallow her!"  
The larger dragon stared down at Crash, her cheeks bulging and muffled screaming from within, a look of confusion in her eyes. "But see ish woking for teh enamee…"  
"She was tricked," Crash answered, crossing his arms as he stared up at the dragon. "You swallow her, you swallow one of the good guys." The dragon did not looked convinced as Crash sighed, "Fine… You owe me after all Ember for saving your kids lives. Consider this as repayment…"  
The dragon stared down at Crash for a few moments before turning her head and spitting a screaming morsel out onto the snow. "Don't care much for the taste of fur anyway…"  
"Icky…" Cassie shuddered as she lifted her arms, sticky dragon drool dripping from her arms.  
"Look Momma! Look!" Spark laughed as she darted about her mother's face in full flight. "I'm flying! I'm flying!"  
"So you are…!" Ember smiled widely, revealing her rows of razor teeth. She turned back to Crash, "You have helped me, now I have helped you Crash. We are even as such. Now kids, let's go and--"  
Ember's words were cut as an explosion nearby blasted Crash, Ember and everyone else who was standing to the ground. "What in the world…?" Cassie questioned as she turned her head, spotting the air-ship with the Cortex face upon it.  
"Cortex!" Crash growled, leaping to his feet. "He's bombing the islands with his blimps!"  
"Great…" Ember snarled, huffing a heave of smoke. "If this carries on, it'll awaken the other dragons… And trust me; that's not a good thing…" Lowering her neck, Ember beckoned to Crash, "Get on! We'll take these out together Crash! Scorch, Spark… Head back to the nest and wait for me there!"  
Leaping forward, Crash climbed onto Ember's scaly neck, saddling himself behind the skull and held tight onto the large jewel on her forehead. "Ready when you are!"  
"Hey wait!" Cassie called out, waving her paws. She knew for certain now that Cortex had lied to her. If Crash had been as bad as Cortex had led her to believe, he would have let Ember eat her. "You're not gonna leave me out here are you?"  
Crash thought for a moment, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out Crunch's wrist transmitter and tossing it to Cassie. "Use that! Get in touch with our colleague Brio and he'll help you out." Cassie gave a nod as she strapped the transmitter to her wrist, while Crash patted Ember's neck. "Let's go!"  
Spreading her wings, Ember leapt from the cliff, soaring into the sky, before rounding back Cassie and the fledglings shouting out to the dragon and bandicoot duo, "Good luck!"

"Dr. Cortex! Dr. Cortex!" N. Gin panicked, his whiny metallic voice high.  
"Battleship three has been taken out! I repeat; Battleship three has been destroyed!"  
"What!" Cortex roared as he spun his chair around to look at the screen. The camera from the third of his armada of five battle-blimps was a hazy blur, static lines and growling hiss as black and white flashed across the screen. "How in the…?"  
"Look there!" N. Gin pointed, excited to camera five, as a large dragon flew straight towards the screen, roaring and baring its fiery throat as a snarling face that Cortex loathed watched from the back, determined to stop. "It's…"  
"Crash Bandicoot!" Cortex roared in fury as the screen blacked out. Then he chuckled darkly, "Not this time! Not this time at all! I have a surprise planned for him." Pressing a button on his arm-chair, Cortex roared into the receiver. "Get ready up there! He's coming for you!"  
From the other end, a new metallic cackle. "Don't you worry! I'm all ready for this! And it'll be eggs-tremely easy too!"  
"Just remember!" Cortex snickered. "We want her alive…"

Folding in her wings and barking, "Hang on!" to Crash, Ember pulled her body into a spinning torpedo in the air. Clinging to the jewel for dear life, Crash closed his eyes, hearing the tearing of the canvas and the shattering of steel as Ember plunged through one side of the blimp and out of the other.  
"Alright!" Crash whooped, punching his fist into the air as the shattered remains of the blimp sunk from the sky, down to rest upon the ocean floor. "Three down!"  
Answering with a roar as she tilted her body, turning in the air, Ember dived as several small drone air-craft attempted a hail of bullets to bring her down. Rising sharply from the dive, Ember lashed out her tail, smashing most of the drones with a single swipe.  
"Go Ember!" Crash called out over the roaring winds. "You're toasting them!"  
"No offence," Ember growled, rolling her large eye to look up at Crash. "But you are screaming in my ear sitting there you know…"  
"Oh? Sorry," Crash smirked sheepishly.  
Pulling back her head, Ember then launched a huge fireball from her gullet, which scorched through the skies, and pummelling into the fourth blimp, causing it to burst into flames as a reaction. The smouldering remnants fell from the sky, a fantastic show of fire in the air.  
Releasing a roar as she dipped and turned once more, heading to the final blimp, there was a guffaw as a figure floated before them, only a few metres before the last of Cortex's battle-fleet. "Well, well… Two perfect little victims I would say…"  
A claw shot from one arm to Ember's throat, latching the dragon in mid-flight and preventing the dragon to approach further. Shaken up by the body spasms of Ember to these counter-attacks, Crash finally plucked up the courage and peeked over the royalty gem to see their assailant.  
The body was floating with twin rocket packs from the back of his cylinder shaped body. A large pink head with two huge eyes glared as twisted teeth shined at them poked from the top of the cylinder, while the arm with a claw erupted from the right side of his body.  
"N. Trance!" Crash gasped, as the master of hypnotism defended the final blimp.  
"Oh yes Crash Bandicoot," N. Trance laughed as he held Ember at bay. "I'm back, and I'm ready to pick a few bones with you! But first…" Trance turned his attention to the struggling dragon. "Dr. Cortex has been interested in your kind for a while… You will be the perfect prize…"  
"Forget it egghead!" Ember barked as she drew back a fireball to spit at Trance.  
At once, Trance's eyes glowed red as he stared into Ember's. "Up!" he ordered her, his voice snapping angrily to the dragon.  
Without warning, Ember tilted her head up, and released the fireball into the sky. Crash gave a shout as he slid from the head, halfway down the back before he grabbed onto a few scales and hung on.  
"Stop fighting!" Trance roared; his eyes glowing red as Ember's body went into a series of convulsions, her attempt to fight off the hypnotic spell of the robotic egg. "I am more powerful than you'll ever be and you are mine! Mine I tell you! Mine!"  
"No!" roared Ember, tossing her head, but unable to remove her eyes from Trance's scarlet glare. "I… will not… be a… puppet!"  
"Give it up!" roared Trance. "You cannot fight me! I have you now! You are mine! That fool Neo will cower before me as I use the very dragon he wanted for him-self for my-self and overthrow him as the conqueror of this puny planet! I will reign supreme!"  
"No…" Ember strained, her voice breaking as she began to crack underneath Trance's spell.  
"Fight it Ember!" Crash called out, the struggling of Ember shaking him down as far as her tail now. "Fight him off! You can do it!"  
"I… I…" Ember stammered, sweat pouring from between her scales as Trance poured more of his power into Ember, taking control. "I… I can't! I can't!"  
Over Trance's maniacal laughter and Ember's cries of pain of struggle, Crash shouted, "Think of Scorch and Spark! They will help you! Fight it Ember! You can do it!"  
Ember screamed in pain as her body continued to quiver in defiance. N. Trance laughed, "Impressive! But now, to turn up the juice!" as his eyes suddenly glowed an evil indigo. "You are mine dragon!"  
Ember screamed again, Crash shouting encouragement to Ember, but even now… He worried Trance was too powerful as well. Trance's gaze had to removed from Ember before she became his puppet forever, but it would take a miracle to stop Trance now…  
"Leave Momma alone!"  
A streak of pink blew past, slamming hard into Trance's body with a metallic thud. "Gah!" N. Trance bellowed as he averted his gaze, and snatched the dragon fledgling Spark in his spare hand. "How dare you little whelp…! I'll teach you a lesson!"  
Head-butting Spark hard, Trance released the cold infant, letting her drop towards the ocean below. "Spark!" Crash cried as he leapt from Ember's back, plunging towards the falling Spark.  
"Arrrgh…" Trance growled as he turned back to Ember. "Now, to deal with… Uh-oh…"  
Ember glowered at Trance, a fireball fully loaded in the back of her throat as she launched the orb of inferno at the egg-shaped menace, below plunging downwards her-self.  
"Oh nooooooooo…" Trance screamed as he was swallowed up by the flaming sphere, and launched towards the blimp, which upon contact exploded into a shower of flaming sparks that burned the sky.  
Meanwhile, Crash managed to catch the unconscious Spark as she fell towards the ocean surface below. Clinging tight to her, Crash suddenly realised he had been so worried about the baby lizard, he hadn't thought about the landing.  
After all, he couldn't swim!  
But, before he landed, there was a breeze of scarlet and with a heavy "Oof," Crash and Spark landed upon the back of Ember, as the dragon soared past. Climbing up slightly, Crash smiled, clutching Spark close to him-self. "We did it! We did it Ember!"  
Nodding to Crash, a look of gratitude in her eyes, Ember rounded back towards the island that she called home…

"Arrrgh!" Cortex screamed as he leapt up and down on the spot, tearing out his hair. "Curse you Crash Bandicoot! Curse you to the fiery depths of…"  
"My lord, Dr. Cortex," N. Gin cut in. "Crash may have stopped our plans to use the dragons, but he and his friends still remain unaware of our TRUE plan…"  
Breathing heavily for a few moments, Cortex pondered this point, before regaining his composure. "Yes, you are correct N. Gin. Let them bask in their victory… After all, when all the pieces of this jigsaw come together… There will be no victory for those meddlesome rodents this time…"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve  
Jigsaw Pieces

The little dragon Scorch huffed angrily, snorting smoke from his nostrils as he wandered the caverns to the nest alone. This just wasn't fair at all… How it was his sister earned her wings before him? They were twins after all, hatched from the same egg-shell and exactly the same age. Why couldn't he fly yet?  
Opening his wings to the fullest, Scorch flapped his wings madly, attempting to lift from the ground, but to no avail. He was still ground-based.  
It angered him to see his sister take off after his mother and Crash, leaving him behind, while the little girl bandicoot raced down the mountain, heading towards the other island.  
Slapping several pebbles with his talon, Scorch barked, "It just isn't fair!" There was the sound of footsteps behind him. "Wha?" Scorch barked, spinning around.  
Suddenly, a strong grip snatched him up, lifting him to the head. It was covered in a black shroud, the reptilian eyes and gleaming fangs shining out from the darkness of the hood. "Well, well…" hissed the voice under the cloak, an oddly familiar tone. "This is a pleasant surprise…"  
"Let me go!" the dragon whelp snapped, thrashing and struggling. "I'm warning you! Let me go, or I'll summon my mother! She'll come for you!"  
The figure laughed, as three more cloaked figures appeared behind. "Let her. I'm waiting…"

Crash waved as Ember and Spark took off from the beach, heading back to the caverns deep within the Dragon Mines from whence they came. He was rather upset that Ember seemed to be rather touchy towards the issue of them being friends… Perhaps she fully didn't trust Crash yet.  
He was pondering this fact when a shout was heard. "Crash! There you are!"  
Wheeling about, Crash gave a pleased shout, "Coco! You're okay!" as his sister charged up, glomping Crash to the ground. "Hey! Whoa! Cool down Coco, I'm okay…"  
"I'm so glad you're alright," Coco smiled, hugging him tight. "I was worried after the deal down in Cortex's Ocean Base that I'd never see you again. Or after seeing that dragon attacking the blimps…"  
Crash grinned wildly, "I was helping the dragon. She and I are… acquaintances." Crash struggled out as he thought for a few moments. Then, remembering Cassie, Crash informed Coco, "By the way, I encountered that girl bandicoot you told me about."  
"Oh?" Coco suddenly frowned.  
Nodding, Crash continued, "Turns out she was tricked by Cortex into believing we were the bad guys. I proved those lies wrong and now I believe she's legging it to Brio's place to wait for us." Grinning again, Crash added, "I think we just scored ourselves a new ally! So, did you find out anything?"  
"Nope…" Coco shook her head. "The Komodo brothers stopped me, and then Nina appeared and flooded the base before I was out. If it wasn't for Gleam, Delphi and Spot, I'd be uh… sleeping with the fishes now." Coco grimaced. "However Gleam informed me something about a great convergence and that there's a lot of activity over there…" Coco pointed with her finger towards Cortex's polluted utopia. "Whatever's going on, we may just find the answers there."  
Pondering for a moment, Crash answered, "Well, seems we have little choice, but I'd recommend we try to steer clear of the castle unless we absolutely must. Cause once we are in the castle, we probably won't be getting out in a hurry."  
"Right then," Coco nodded. "To the boat!"

Cassie sat back in the boat, pondering. This all came so fast, all the changes. The lying of Cortex and the friendship of the bandicoots. She thought about the larger one she'd tortured before and the girl one she'd confronted…  
Would they accept her?  
"If you are worried," the whiny voice of Brio through the transmitter told her. "That the others won't accept you, trust me in saying they will. Crunch was once much like you, Cortex's pawn. I know the difference between a fake and a truthful person, and I know you are truthful."  
Smiling slightly, Cassie whispered, "Thanks Brio."  
"No problem!" the voice answered. "Now why not take a rest? I'll buzz you when you arrive back to the island ok?" then the transmitter fell silent.  
Yawning and stretching her paws, Cassie was exhausted. She'd been awake over twenty four hours and still had yet to take a nap. Curling up in the boat's hull, the soft bouncing of the water and the sea-spray in the air, she slowly drifted into a dream-filled slumber…

_Two brothers, both children, played with some ancient masks. The children were wearing native clothing and painted with tribal paints as they chased one another around a small meadow in the jungle, hiding behind their masks and laughing.  
__One child held a friendly looking mask. The face upon the mask was soft and caring, four brightly coloured feathers adorning the tip of the mask, while eyes of green and gold stared from the mask. A tuff of green dyed fur hung like a beard from the bottom of the mask.  
__The other, held a darker, more sinister mask. The wood was painted black, a bone tied to the top of the mask, whilst a bone hung from both the left and right sides of the mask. Orange and red zigzags adorned the forehead of the mask as an evil glare stared out of the soulless yellow eyes.  
__The two children played happily for a while, chasing one another, before suddenly the one carrying the evil mask turned the game rough. Pushing the other boy hard, he forced him to the ground, startling the other boy. Without a seconds waste, the rough boy dived upon the passive one, swatting the friendly mask from his hands and laughing.  
__The friendly boy pouted on the ground as he stared at his own mask, lying lifelessly away.  
__The victor boomed his laughter, holding his evil mask above his head, chanting something in honour of his victory to the game…_

Thump!  
"Oof!" Cassie grunted as something heavy slammed into her stomach, violently waking her from her slumber. "Huh? What?" she questioned, her vision returning to her. The boat had landed upon the island, pressed up against the sand.  
But that wasn't what awoke Cassie. Sitting upon her chest, was a stricken dragon hatchling. It was the pink one from before; Spark. The dragon looked panicked, afraid and fearful.  
"Spark?" Cassie blinked, leaning up and moving the dragon from her. "What's wrong?"  
The panting dragon babbled out fast, not even pausing for a breath, "Momma and I got back to the nest and they tried to catch us! They got Momma and Scorch, but I was able to get away! I've been looking for Crash, but I couldn't find him, but I found you! Please! You've got to help me!"  
"What?" Cassie tilted her head in confusion. "Who was this?"  
Tossing her little head, Spark answered, "I don't know. They wore black hoods and wear scary… One of them seemed to know Momma well. And they talked about the Lost City…"  
Completely confused, Cassie turned on her wrist communicator. "Crash? Crash, are you there?"  
There was a bit of static and then, "This is Coco. Who is this?"  
Cassie paused for a moment, before, "Its Cassie."  
At once, there was a laugh and Coco answered happily, "Well, nice to meet you Cassie. I'm Coco, Crash's sister. No hard feelings about what happened in the harbour?"  
Laughed slightly, feeling at ease, Cassie answered, "Sure… If you have none that is."  
There was another laugh, and then, "Yo Cass! What's up?" This time it was Crash's voice answering her call out for help.  
Swallowing, Cassie admitted, "Spark just told me that something's happened to Ember and Scorch. Some strange hooded figures did something to them and are heading to the Lost City."  
Crash thought on the other line for a few moments before, "Right. Tell Spark I'm heading to the Lost City and to meet me there. We'll take it from there…"  
Another thump to the other end of the boat and Cassie looked up, to see a large bipedal lizard enter the boat. It blinked to her slightly as the face of a polar bear peeked over the edge as well. "I'm Tina," the lizard nodded sincerely to Cassie. Then, the lizard frowned, "And I just heard what's up with Crash. I'll head over with this… Spark…" Tina regarded the dragon strangely as the dragon whelp stared back at her. "Polar? Are you able to take Cassie back to Brio's?"  
"Sure!" the polar bear cub nodded. "C'mon Cassie. We'll let Tina and Spark help Crash out."  
Though she was reluctant slightly, Cassie knew it was probably for the best. Nodding, Cassie clambered from the boat as the dinosaur within turned to the controls, directing the boat back out to sea and towards the island Cassie had just come from.  
"C'mon!" Polar tugged at her trouser leg. "We're all waiting to meet you back at Brio's!"

Coco watched sadly as Crash waved bye, turning the boat into reverse and heading back, leaving her alone on Cortex's sinister, polluted island. There was a rumble from the skies, as dark clouds began to gather on the horizon, an ominous warning of the weather to come.  
Clutching her lap-top closely, Coco climbed up the jagged rock-face, kicking aside the garbage and waste that littered the landscape. Ecology was one of the last things upon Cortex's agenda, the scientist just discarding anything anywhere.  
As she hauled her-self slowly over the ledge, Coco glanced about, her face worried. A slight bit of movement, and she ducked behind a nearby rock, watching carefully from her vantage. Several Lab Assistant androids walked past, carrying heavy items and entering the factory. A laser near the door scanned the droids, before sliding open and allowing them in, the hum of the doors sliding shut seconds after.  
"Hmm…" Coco pondered to her-self. Attempting to approach the door was a bad idea. It would recognise her as being organic instead of mechanic and sound the alarm. She needed to sneak into the factory and find a computer port to finally access all the data she required.  
Waiting patiently, she watched as two more androids approached the doors. Jumping up, and quietly sneaking up behind them, though still outside the distance of the scanning beam, she waited for the right moment to present it-self…  
Leaping for the open doors behind the robots, Coco rolled into the factory, the doors sliding shut tight behind her. Breathing a sigh of relief as she pressed her back to the wall, still haven't been spotted or tripped any alarms, Coco began to sneak down the corridor.  
As she ducked and dived, hiding from the prying robotic eyes of the androids, Coco slowly ventured deeper and deeper into the facility. As she tailed a droid, the room opened up into a huge hanger, two large mechanical monstrosities being constructed by a legion of the Lab Assistants.  
The first one seemed to take on a humanoid shape, though even then, it was hard to tell. Two huge rockets seemed to erupt from the mech's back, as arms were equipped with a laser-like weapon on the left and a plasma blaster upon the right. The head and cockpit were still under construction.  
The second one took a more like a snake look, a large cockpit with twin turbine engines either side of the cockpit. A long tail like weapon erupted from the back end of the mech, blasters equipped down the tail, while a huge beam weapon sat upon the front of the cockpit, two machine guns on either side of the beam and an explosive launcher was to the back of the cockpit. To tie everything off nicely, there was buzz saw like blades between the turbines and the cockpit.  
The snake mech looked completed as the androids continued painting the machine, while welding and construction was still heavy upon the second, humanoid mech.  
"What in the world…?" Coco questioned for a moment before…  
"Intruder! Intruder!" a whiny voice wailed behind her.  
Spinning around, Coco found her-self facing a Lab Assistant screaming, its eyes flashing red. "Oh… Derry-berries!" Coco cursed as she took off, fleeing down the corridor as the androids all dropped what they were doing to turn towards her.  
Over the intercom, another whiny voice screamed, "Code 101! We have an intruder! Lock down the facility! I repeat; Total lockdown!" This voice over the speakers, Coco knew well. It belonged to Cortex's right-hand man, Dr. N. Gin.  
With a thud behind her, Coco noticed a heavy metal door lock down, preventing retreat. Glancing ahead as she ran as fast as she could, lights flashing and sirens wailing, Coco cursed again, as the door before her was coming down fast.  
She wouldn't make it! She was gonna be trapped!  
Suddenly, there was a flash of brown from a corridor up ahead, and then a grunt, "Hurry up! I can't hold it for long!" as Crunch erupted from nowhere, straining to hold the door up.  
"Crunch!" Coco called out as she slid underneath the door, Crunch following her moments later, letting the door fall down with a heavy thud. As the sirens seemed a small distance away, a moment to breath, Coco looked to Crunch. "Thanks man! I thought I was in trouble…"  
"No problem Coco," Crunch growled as he flexed his metal wrist. "After all, I'm not after you." The room they were in was plain metal, a few empty crates and a large metal panel sealed shut.  
Suddenly recalling what Crash had told her, Coco warned Crunch, "Hey Crunch, before you jump to any conclusion, that wasn't Crash back in the native's village by the way…" The larger bandicoot didn't answer, instead choosing to stare at Coco, as if asking more. "That girl bandicoot, Cassie, was being duped by Cortex and is on our side now. And someone's out there, impersonating Crash. Cortex is up to something, and trust me, its something big for him to go to this expense."  
"Mm…" Crunch thought for a moment upon Coco's words. He crossed his paws in thought for a moment, before answering, "Well, Crash may have led us astray in the past, but you never have Coco. So I trust you fully and will accept your claims. Now, what are you doing in this place?"  
"Well I'm…" Coco began, when a loud roar broke their thought. She spun around to the panel before them, which was now sliding open, loud roaring heard within. A dark green light flooded out from the shadows of the panel.  
Spinning around, Crunch slammed the nearby air-vent with his fist, rupturing a large hole into it. "Quick Coco! Get going!" he ordered as he picked her up, pushing her towards the vent.  
"What about you?" Coco blinked.  
"Don't worry about me!" Crunch grinned. "I've been waiting for this for a while!" Crunch cracked his knuckles in glee. "Now go!" he ordered as Coco began to scramble through the vent, deeper into the factory through the ventilation shafts.  
Crunch meanwhile glowered to the pair of eyes that glared back at him. Cracking his knuckles once more, as his adversary screamed in rage, ripping the chains connected to the ground and his wrists into scrambled pieces of shattered metal, Crunch snickered to his foe.

"Well, well… I've been waiting for this for some time now Tiny."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen  
Experimental Chaos

Crash panted slightly as he knelt over, the ground becoming muddy and marshy as he approached the Lost City upon the ruins island. Some fair distance he'd sprinted, attempting to get there as fast as he could, worried about what Spark had been so panicked about.  
Ahead, the jungle thinned out, opening to a large city of stone and metal that bubbled from the marsh, where it had lay for the past few thousand years. He remembered traversing these very swamps on his first ever quest against Dr. Cortex.  
"Spark!" Crash called out hoarsely. "Where are you Spark?"  
There was a shout back, as Crash glanced to a temple in the far distance. Standing on the far side, on the entrance to a large temple built into the mountainside, was Tina and Spark, jumping about and waving to Crash. "Over here!" the dragon hatchling called out, waving her wings frantically.  
Frowning for a moment as he glanced to the temple's appearance, it seemed as if the temple had been badly damaged in the past. The ground around it looked scorched and damaged, as if had been impacted by a large object. The steps leading to the entrance were shattered and the opening also laid crumbling and falling in upon its self.  
Frowning for a moment as Crash glanced about; looking for a way to get across, to the temple, Tina gave a yell. "Don't go through the marsh! It's dangerous!"  
Glancing across, the thin stretch of shallow swamp between him and his friends, Crash imagined the slow, sticky demise of sinking into the swamp…  
Or the quick one, falling prey in the jaws of one of the massive crocodiles that swam in the swamp…  
"How do I get across?" Crash called out, scratching his head.  
As if to answer, Tina suddenly dashed forward, making a mighty leap forward onto a stone; this at once crumbled into nothing as, with as much grace as the scaly dinosaur could muster, she leapt from stone to stone. Within a few moments, she was standing next to Crash, dust settling around her talons. "Get on!" she barked.  
Straddling upon the dinosaur's back, Crash clung around her neck as Tina took a running leap, leaping a far distance towards a stone, then another stone, and another. "Whoa!" Crash shrieked as Tina's leap missed slightly, leaving her claws scrambling slightly at the ledge before she climbed her way back up. "That was a little too close Tina…"  
Panting, the Rex answered, "Easy for you to say! I'm the one doing all the hard work!"  
Casting her eyes about, Tina sought a way to make the final leap, her first stepping stone having been destroyed. There was only one option and it was a dangerous one too. "Hold tight Crash!" she bellowed. "This is gonna get messy…"  
"Huh?" Crash blinked before he realised her plan. "No way Tina! You are so **NOT** gonna use that croc as a stepping stone are yooooou?" Crash hollered as Tina leapt towards the reptile hiding in the marsh.  
The second her claws connected, Tina kicked off again, leaping forward…  
Crash found himself hurtling forward, unsaddled from Tina as she was pulled back by the crocodile, its jaws firmly clamped upon her talon, the young T-Rex shrieking. "Tina!" Crash called out, making a move back to the Rex who was squealing in her dinosaur tongue.  
Unable to reach her, the swamp water cutting him off, Crash watched helplessly, as Spark gave a yell, rushing towards to help, the waters foaming and splashing, hiding the carnage that must have been occurring. Spark was about to leap into the air, when the thrashing stopped, the waters falling calm and silent.  
Closing his eyes and hanging his head, Crash shook in anger. He was unable to help her in her time of need… He was unable to…  
A splash as the hatchling gave one last leap, crashing hard into the mud near Crash and Spark, a marred and bruised Tina landed in the mud, panting weakly. Rushing to her side was Crash and Spark, who quickly asked, "Are you alright?"  
"I'm… fine…" Tina groaned, her voice laboured and weak. She cooed softly as Crash stroked her forehead, nursing one of the wounds. "I'll… heal up… soon enough. Don't… waste time… You two need… to save… Scorch…"  
Crash nodded as he dragged Tina's body further up the bank, away from the edge and petted her head softly. "You be a good girl Tina and rest. We'll be back for you later you hear?" Then, turning to Spark, he nodded. "Let's go Spark. We've got to hurry this up…"  
With a nod, the fledgling and Crash flew up the stairs up into the temple's mouth. Crash peered in cautiously into the dark temple, lit by torches as he stepped past the doorway into the deeper throat of the temple, Spark alongside him. The walls were adorned with dark, evil images… Images of…  
"Uka-Uka!" Crash shouted, suddenly realizing this was the temple Aku-Aku had imprisoned his evil twin brother eons ago. "We gotta get out of here!" he ordered to Spark, not trusting anything to do with the evil of Uka-Uka at all.  
Making a turn for the doorway, Crash was just in time to see the last light of the sun fade away…

As the door shut, trapping him and Spark within the shrine of evil.

Coco panted as she crawled along the air vents, trying not to think of what was happening to Crunch or who or what he was currently fighting.  
She wasn't sure **WHERE** she was at all, but she knew she eventually had to get out and take a look about. After all, she still needed to find a computer port to plug her laptop in and download all the data she needed to find out about the plan of Cortex.  
As she passed a grate, she paused to take a peek out. It was a computer room and it appeared to be completely empty to her eyes. Perfect placement… An empty room with plenty of places to place her laptop to download all the data that she required.  
With a swift kick, she knocked the grate away and slid out into the room. Glancing about as she looked about, just to double check she was indeed alone, she confirmed this room was empty and pulled her laptop out from her lap-pack.  
Placing the computer on the front desk, she paused to think.  
_What if I am discovered? I have discovered this data takes a long time to download… Maybe I should hide it somewhere and set up the download, and then if I do have to leave, I can come back later to get it?  
_Removing the laptop from the front desk, Coco found a space between two desks, and an unused terminal between them. As she ran the cable to the terminal, Coco plugged it in and began the download. Then, she folded up her laptop and placed it snugly between the two desks.  
Rubbing her hands with glee, Coco wandered over towards the door to lock it, when it slid open…  
"Say good night sweetheart!" a voice barked, and the next thing Coco saw was the butt of a gun…

Then everything was black…

"Light!" Crash's voice ordered in the dark.  
There was a huff of flame, as Spark lit the torch that Crash was carrying. Together, the dragon and the bandicoot had been wandering throughout the dark temple of Uka-Uka's. It seemed endless, a deep labyrinth of stone and more stone.  
"Crash…" moaned Spark, the dragon's wings dropped and dragging across the stony floor. "I'm tired. Can we rest for a bit please?"  
"Do you want to find your brother?" Crash replied.  
"Pretty please?" Spark begged. "I'm so tired."  
With a sigh, Crash answered, "Alright then. We'll take a quick breather…" as the bandicoot stood on tipsy-toe, placing the flaming torch into the empty slot provided above him. "But we have to keep going, or else we'll never catch up with… Huh?"  
Crash and Spark perked up suddenly, as a mechanical whirr was heard, the holder of the torch having activated an ancient door, opening a secret passage. The wall slid open, revealing a chamber in the centre, bathed in sunlight through a lens in the ceiling, focusing the light upon a pedestal in the centre.  
Upon the pedestal, lay a jewel. An orb of pure black was the jewel lying there, just like the two sacred jewels of the natives of Papu-Papu that had been stolen. Crash cautiously entered the room, afraid of any booby traps, before Spark also entered, both of them glancing about to make sure they were safe.  
"What is it?" Spark asked as Crash drew up to the pedestal.  
Crash shook his head. "I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it must be special. We'd best take it just in case it comes in use…"  
"Crash… I wouldn't…" Spark frowned as Crash's paws clasped the jewel.  
At once, the chamber began to rumble and collapse. "RUN!" Crash shouted as he snagged the jewel and stashed it away; diving out of the room as the ceiling came crashing down. Narrowly avoiding being crushed, Crash glanced back to the smoking remains that was the chamber they had been in before.  
"Next time you wanna kill your-self…" Spark snapped, flecks of flame spitting from her breath. "Warn me so I don't have to help you earn your wings okay?"  
"Sheesh…" Crash shrugged and smirked. "You act as if that was my entire fault…"

"Unbelievable…" Nitrus Brio marvelled as he glanced over Cassie, measuring her with tape measure and more. The scientist's eyes were wide with disbelief as he checked up Cassie. "This is… fantastic. I had feared that all had been lost from those experiments from the Castle's explosion years ago…"  
"Huh?" Cassie questioned; the stick still in her mouth, her eyes wide with confusion.  
"It started several years ago Cassie…" Brio began. "I was allied to Dr. Cortex when he attempted to take over the world by creating an army of super animals. However, one of his experiments betrayed him and destroyed Cortex's entire castle, including all notes on our research. When he left me to die, I vowed to do what-ever it took to get even with him.  
"That experiment was Crash. However, it wasn't known to any other than Cortex's top acquaintances the final phases of his plans. Before Crash was ejected from the islands, he came into contact with a she-bandicoot known as Tawna. Now, until this stage, Cortex had only created male experiments. He'd never tested with females as he deemed them weak. Tawna however, passed every test perfectly. She was indeed a super-animal, though as Cortex had created her as a blonde bimbo as more a joke than anything else, Tawna was rather useless for anything…  
"While Crash was attempting to get back to the islands, Cortex discovered the reason the male experiments were always flawed in some aspect. The male gene made a reaction against the Cortex Vortex and Evolvo-Ray, and caused genetic fluxes in the finished soldiers.  
"But, the female gene withstood this flux that caused malfunctions. In fact, it actually even boosted the desired effect. Tawna who was designed as a blonde bimbo, really was one extreme bimbo. She was hugely busted and incredibly dim-witted. So Cortex attempted one more experiment, just to make sure before he created an army of girls. One experiment to become a technology whiz and a computer hacker, breaking into Government secrets for him and tampering with machines was his goal.  
"That resulted in Crash's sister, Coco. And her intelligence was boosted beyond anything. Her knowledge of machines and computers even astounds me sometimes…  
"Then is where the story gets hazy…"  
"Hazy?" Cassie blinked, wondering.  
Brio nodded to Cassie. "Indeed. Cortex was said to have created five more experiments. All of which were females. However, no results were ever discovered as Crash attacked the castle soon after, destroying most of the castle. All the files were lost and it was thought the experiments were as well…"  
"But I'm still here…" Cassie scratched her head in confusion.  
"Exactly!" Brio pointed to her. "And if you are here… Where are the other four? And more importantly… What makes them so special?  
"Because remember Cassie… Cortex wanted warriors. Cold-blooded killers more than willing to do **_whatever_** it took to get what they wanted…"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen  
Shut It Faker!

Crash frowned as he looked to the stump of what was left of the torch. For what had seemed like hours, he'd wandered aimlessly and blindly through the temple that was spawn from the evil of Uka-Uka. For a few times, he'd considered calling to Aku-Aku, but decided against it…  
It was bad enough that he was inside Uka-Uka's shrine, but summoning Aku-Aku to the temple as well seemed like a very bad idea for some reason.  
"Crash…?" Spark whined from behind. The dragon fledgling was very agitated and depressed now, her ears drooping from the time spend in the dark, with no sign of her brother or of their quarry. "We're lost, aren't we?"  
"Relax Spark," Crash chuckled to the fledgling. He knelt down to face her, stroking her scaly head with his paw. To respond, Spark gave a chittering sound. "I've gotten outta worse scrapes than this before… Something will come our way, you'll see…"  
Nodding in agreement, Spark lifted her ears to express her happiness. As Crash and she took to their feet once move, Crash suddenly spotted something moving in the darkness ahead, and a shadow seeming to move in the gloom. "What the…?"  
"What is that?" Spark whimpered, the fledgling beginning to shiver in fright.  
As he slowly drew closer, the shadow grew closer, taking on shape. It mimicked every move Crash made perfectly. Hesitant, but determined, Crash took several steps forward and…  
He saw him-self, standing in a corridor very much like the one he was in.  
Laughing, Crash waved his arm, the mirror copy of himself also waving as he moved closer to the mirror, grinning. He hopped on one leg, the mimic matching his moves. Barking a laugh as he stood near the mirror, Crash called to Spark, "Hey Spark! It's just a mirror!"  
But the dragon whelp stared in shock still. Crash scratched his head at Spark's action before she choked out, "Then… Where's _my_ reflection Crash?"  
His eyes widening suddenly, Crash spun back to his mirror copy to see mimic give a screech, a long slender tongue rolling out of the mouth and lashing and cracking about like a whip. Giving a shriek of fright, Crash leapt back, as the tongue lashed at him, before it snapped back into the replica Crash's mouth. Without a moment of hesitation, the fake bandicoot leapt straight up to the ceiling crawling along the ceiling, as simply as one would crawl upon the ground.  
Within a moment, it had disappeared. Not disappeared deeper into the caves, just melded with the shadows around Crash and Spark. "What is it?" wailed Sark, the fledgling cowering beneath Crash's legs for protection, the whelp shaking in fear uncontrollably.  
"I don't know," Crash growled, his teeth and fists clenched tight. "But whatever it is… I'll be more than ready to fight it…" To reply to Crash's comment, there was a cackle from the corridor the creature had appeared from. Spinning again, Crash gasped, "Coco?"  
"It's a mimic Crash," Coco gasped, having leant over panting. "I've been looking all over for you… I know about it. It can mimic anyone and hide in the shadows… In this darkness, it has a major advantage over us with its ability to turn invisible… C'mon, follow me! We've got to get out of here now!"  
Nodding to his sister, Crash turned to Spark, still cowering away slightly. "Spark, let's go! We're getting out of this place!"  
At once, the scared face of the dragon frowned in anger. "No! They came in here with Scorch and I'm not leaving without him!"  
Nodding for a few moments, Crash turned back to Coco. "She's right. We can't leave until we save Scorch from those hooded… things."  
Frowning, Coco glared to Crash. "You'd give your life to save her brother? What about me? I might lose my brother in this trap! You'd be prepared to die for a stranger?"  
"I'm sorry Coco," Crash shook his head. "I made a promise to Spark. I plan to keep it…"  
Coco didn't slag, or frown or anything, instead, she just turned, "I think I know where they are… Follow me you two and we'll see what we can do…"

"I don't believe I ever bothered looking into these old files," Brio hummed as he typed away at the computer at his hidden base, Cassie sitting in a chair behind him, Polar and Pura asleep in a basket behind. "The files were corrupted so I never bothered to even try to repair them. I may be able to get fragments about you and the other four experiments from it."  
Cassie sighed slightly. She didn't like this waiting. She wanted to be part of the action, as Crash was. She wanted to get back at Cortex for tricking her.  
"This will take some time, but I've found some fragments about the first experiment…" Brio smiled slightly as he turned to Cassie. "It seems this experiment was created with stealth in mind. The creature can mimic anyone it sees and can also hide in shadows… In fact it…"  
"I met that thing!" Cassie shouted, leaping from her seat. "It mimicked Crash and them attacked me! After that, it ran straight up a wall, as if it were ground!"  
"You did?" Brio blinked. "Run up a wall? Then if that was the case, itcould be a…"

"I thought you were in Cortex's factory, trying to find information about his plot Coco," Crash asked, curious about why she'd rushed back to help him.  
"I grew worried and rushed back after I found some information about this mimic," Coco admitted to Crash, moments before she knelt over, puffing for a few moments. They were in a large chamber now, circular, with a small hole in the ceiling, sunlight streaming in a small circle in the darkness.  
Coming to his sister's side, Crash questioned, "A mimic huh? How do we fight it Coco?"  
Shaking her head as she glanced her eyes into Crash's, "I can't tell you…"  
Blinking in confusion, Crash asked stupidly, "Why?"  
Coco's face at once twisted evilly, "Because **I'M** the mimic!" she hissed as she threw her fist as Crash's jaw, knocking the bandicoot to the ground.  
Rubbing his chin as he climbed back to his feet as he heard a yelp, the unconscious form of Spark landing nearby, Crash glared back at the twisted distortion of his sister, her eyes wide and slit like a lizard, a horn instead of a nose, sharp pointy teeth and the thing snake-like tongue that hung from the mouth. "Who or what are you?"  
"Who?" laughed the mimic as Coco's form faded into that of Dr. Neo Cortex. "He asks 'who' the fool does." Cortex then turned into Crunch, "I can be anyone I want to be!" Crunch faded into a copy of Dingodile, sneering at Crash. "Who is the wrong question to ask me!" Finally, it turned into a form that Crash did recognise, but did not know. A figure shrouded in a hood of black.  
"You!" Crash barked, remembering these figures from the Crystal stash. "What are you? What do you want from me?"  
The cloaked figure glared at Crash, "We want you to stop meddling in **our** affairs bandicoot, and to tell us the location of the dragon's treasure stash! Oh, and that Black Pearl in your pocket too… Do all of that, and maybe we'll consider letting you live!"  
Growling as he took a fighting stance, Crash growled, "Fat chance! Now, show your-self!"  
The hooded figured cackled with insane laughter as the hands reached to the opening of the cloak. Throwing in back, Crash gave a shout of shock.  
There was nothing there!  
"I am one with the shadows. You cannot see me!" cackled the voice, a strange combination of hissing and maniacal laughter, with an odd twist of Asian accent.  
Spinning about, looking for the source of the voice that echoed throughout the cold chamber, Crash suddenly felt a tightening around his neck, as the thin tongue grasped him, lifting him skyward. Gagging as he struggled to remove the choking tongue, Crash's legs kicked and his paws clawed at the tongue, before he cast his eyes skywards…  
And he saw it…  
Taking the sudden chance at the tip of the creature's tongue tickled his nose, Crash bit the tip.  
The creature cling to the ceiling shrieked as she released her hold on the throat, dropping the coughing bandicoot to the stony floor.  
As Crash slowly climbed back to his feet, the creature dropped from the ceiling, landing squarely on its hind legs, an experiment of Cortex's, like Crash him-self. Scaly green skin, cold slit eyes of icy blue and a sharp horn on the nose. The head sprouted a frill that the long red hair hung from, while a coiled tail erupted from her backside…  
That was the oddest thing Crash noticed about the mimic. It was a girl experiment…  
The experiment was wearing a kimono that had been torn and adjusted, so it looked more like a suit used for fighting.  
It all made sense now... This creature had been mimicking Crash and had turned Cassie and Crunch against him beforehand.

Crash finally choked out the words his mind screamed, his voice raspy, "You're a **chameleon**!"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen  
The Femme Fatale

Smirking, the lizard clapped her clawed paws in a mocking fashion. Her cold eyes glared to Crash, as her tongue lolled from the mouth, acting like an extra limb. The chameleon seemed to move a little in her stance, before with a _shurlp_, she sucked her tongue back into her mouth and stood up to Crash, each of equal height.  
Then, in her Asian tone, the lizard hissed, "Name's Karma. Karma Chameleon to you bandicoot."  
Crash glared back, he didn't particularly like being deceived, throttled and then taunted. Instead he pointed to Karma and ordered, "Tell me what you are doing here chameleon! And what do you want with the Power Crystals and this… this…?" rolling the black orb in his paw.  
Sneering, Karma snapped, "I don't answer to you bandicoot! I won't tell you a--"  
"Karma!" barked another voice in the darkness. Wheeling to the direction, there was a flame lit and three more hooded figures stood upon a ledge. The largest of the three held a struggling and kicking blue dragon fledgling by the wing-blades, as thick tape plastered the mouth shut.  
Crash grimaced, realizing he was about to face more of them.  
"Perhaps you do not want to explain…" the hooded figure at the head, no doubt the leader, ordered to the chameleon hiding in the dark arena. "But I feel… generous enough to grant him a small token of gratitude for locating the last Black Pearl for us." Then, a cloaked paw pointed to Crash. "Bandicoot… You can ask us one question, and I will answer."  
Pondering the thought for a moment, Crash knew his biggest question was a simple one. "Who are you, and what do you want?"  
The hood chuckled darkly with laughter. "We, bandicoot, are the Femme Fatale. Four of the five most powerful of Cortex's experiments, and as you have seen with our first member, Karma," the lizard laughing as she swayed on the spot, like a cobra, her tongue hanging from the mouth. "We are all gifted with blessed gifts unlike the common prattle of that fool Neo's experiments. You included.  
"And we are after our own goals. We are not allied to Neo cortex; or to you. We will do things our way, to get what we all want. And right now, we want the Power Crystals!"  
The other smaller member shrieked her voice high, "Don't forget the pearl!" The largest figure remained silent, still clutching the whelp of Ember.  
"Oh yes," nodded the leader. "She needs that pearl of yours."  
There seemed to be a silent standoff, as Crash glanced up to the figures, his eyes upon the pugnacious Scorch. From the corner of his eye, Spark was beginning to wake up, the little girl groaning. Then, back up to the leader, "Let Scorch go! He has done nothing to you! It's me you want!"  
"Wrong…" growled in a deep, dangerous voice the largest member. "I want him…"  
"So does the bandicoot," hummed the leader, placing her paw to her hidden chin to think. "How does a trade sound? Give us the Crystals that belong to the Dragon and the Black Pearl and we'll let the little brat go free…"  
"What!" snapped the largest member, the head snapping to the leader.  
"Relax…" the leader smirked. "You still have the mother ready and waiting for you…"  
"Ember!" Crash snapped, his jaw dropping. They had Ember as well. But he couldn't dare let them have this Black Pearl, or the Power Crystals.  
The leader crossed her arms in wonder. "You hesitate… I wonder… If perhaps a trade is not agreeable, perhaps you are a gambling freak instead?" Crash frowned, unsure of what to say. "Let me wager this bandicoot… For each of us you defeat in a one-on-one battle, we will give you something that you desire. If you defeat one of us now, we'll give you the twerp. Defeat another, and we'll give you something else, until you defeat all four of us…"  
"And if you win?" Crash added, his eyes slightly worried.  
The largest figure bellowed, "We will pry what we want from your cold, dead paws!"  
Grimacing, Crash realized this wasn't impossible to defeat them one-on-one. Perhaps. "Fine," Crash growled, taking a fighting stance. "I'm in."  
A laugh came from behind him, with another slurp. "Let me go first! I wanna own his furry hide!"  
"Very well Karma," the leader nodded. "The first round belongs to you then."  
Turning back to Crash, the lizard bowed to her opponent. "Tell you what flea-bag," the chameleon grinned, revealing her mouth of teeth. "I won't use my disguising techniques and pretend to be something, or someone I'm not…"  
"Sounds fair," Crash grinned.  
At once, the chameleon disappeared, swallowed by the shadows. "Hey!" Crash shouted. "You cheated already!"  
From somewhere, there was a snicker. "I never said my camouflage wasn't to be used!"  
_Aw, shoot!_ Crash took several steps back, twisting his head everywhere, looking for even the slightest clue to Karma's whereabouts. But there was nothing. She was completely invisible to his eyes. "Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, karma…" a hissing voice whispered low, similar to the theme of Jaws, sending Crash's hair on the back of his neck to stand.  
He knew when the attack was to come. She was merely toying with him.  
"Karma, CHAMELEON!" the voice shrieked, as Crash felt the tongue wrap around his waist and hurl him painfully into the wall, pebbles of stone tinkering down upon him.  
"Gah!" Crash gasped in pain as he climbed to his feet again. How could he fight what he couldn't see? Sound was out, as the chameleon moved silent and with great stealth. He had no idea where she'd grabbed him from or where she was to strike--  
"Gotcha!" hissed Karma as she grabbed Crash's face with her claws. Giving a yell, Crash grabbed the arms and quickly threw her over him as hard as he could. He glanced ahead to see Karma flying ahead. "Wargh!" Karma shrieked for a moment.  
It happened so fast, Crash had little time to react. Karma's tongue grabbed the nearest pillar, then, she hurled her-self in the opposite direction, just like a sling-shot.  
Back towards to Crash, a clawed foot at the ready.  
"Arrrgh!" Crash growled in anger as he was knocked to the ground. Seeing stars, he jumped back to his feet, but again the lizard was gone again, disappeared in the blackness of the shrine.  
"Crash! Above you!" shrieked Spark from a distance.  
Glancing up, Crash spotted a tendril of black snaking down towards him, as he rolled out of the way. _How did I see that?_ Crash gasped to himself, blinking as he glanced back to see the tendril snake away.  
_The light!  
_The tongue had passed where the small ray of light passed through the room. But is still didn't make much sense unless…  
A pitch black shadow dashed past the ray again, hiding back in the shadows of the temple.  
_Of course!_ Crash punched his fist into his palm. Karma wasn't invisible. She was merely changing her colour to match the background! And she couldn't adjust from shadow to light fast enough to avoid being detected if not for a few seconds.  
If she could hide in daylight at all.  
He needed more light into the room. He needed to flood the room with light somehow…  
There was a smack as a fist hit Crash's jaw and the bandicoot flew backwards, sliding across the pebbly temple floor, before banging his head into a stone pillar. "Crash!" Spark barked as she ran up to him, her scales shining in the darkness. "You need some help?"  
Glancing to Spark, Crash shook his head, before an idea struck him. He quickly whispered into Spark's ear what to do, the dragon looking confused. "What?"  
"Just do it!" Crash ordered as he leapt to his feet, dashing back into the centre of the room. _Where are you now chameleon? I know your weakness…  
_There was a near silent snicker as Crash stood to his left, turning and looking about. "Now Spark!" Crash ordered to the whelp, pointing in the direction.  
Spreading her wings wide, much like an angel, the sunlight shining from her scales and directed in the direction Crash was pointing, deluging the shadow with sunlight. A black figure screamed as it grabbed its face, in pain and stunned. The black skin suddenly erupted into a rapid kaleidoscope of colours; red, blue, green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, white and much, much more, as Karma stumbled about blinded for just a moment…  
The crucial moment Crash needed. Slamming hard into the lizard, Crash slammed her against the stone wall, before grabbing her tail and spinning like a top, smashing the lizard into one, two, three pillars, before slinging her into the wall again, sending cracks sprawling up the wall.  
Groaning as she climbed to her feet, her natural colours of green, Karma turned to face Crash. "This isn't over! Bring it on bandicoot! I'm more than…" She slumped forward, passing out from the exhaustion, and falling asleep.  
Blinking, Crash looked to the lizard as the chamber slowly slid into darkness. She indeed snoring away, seemingly dreaming away happily. "Fool," growled the leader, whom Crash had forgotten in these five minutes of blind panic. "Karma should have remembered she exhausts her-self out from hiding in different colours. She should have finished you off quickly." Crash continued to glance up, noticing that the larger figure was still up there, but the other smaller shroud was gone.  
He expected an attack, but when nothing came, he turned back to Karma, only to find that the lizard was gone, her body just lifted and gone.  
"Congratulations Crash Bandicoot," the leader sneered, crossing her arms. "You defeated one of the Femme Fatale. Now, as promised…" She pointed to Scorch, who was still growling and thrashing. With a loud snarl, the largest figure threw the infant down towards Crash.  
Dashing to the infant, Crash tore the tape from his mouth and Scorch snapped, "I'll kill them! I'll kill them! Lemme at them!" as Scorch wheeled about, lifting from the ground, towards the ledge. Then, "What! I… I'm flying! Spark! I'm flying!" Scorch cried out for joy, realizing he was floating in the air.  
Giving a shout of her own, Spark, dashed up to her brother, both of the dragon kin dancing about in air-play as Crash glanced back to the ledge where the Femme Fatale had been standing. He frowned, as he glanced up, the two infants too caught up in their game to notice.

The Femme Fatale were gone.

After a short air-lift by Scorch and Spark to the ledge, Crash and the dragon twins found them-selves in a small mountain tunnel into the volcano. The temple ended, beginning to turn into a craggy and rocky pathway deep into the fabled Dragon Mines.  
"Momma's in danger as well," Scorch snapped to Crash as he and Spark fluttered before the walking bandicoot. "Those hooded girls chained her down and were torturing her, when she told them the last Black Pearl was in the temple."  
Crash pulled out the pearl, looking at it in his hands. "I think I know what to ask of them for each victory now… Next, I'll get them to spare your mother. Then the third, I'll demand the other two pearls back, and then finally…"  
"Yes?" Spark asked, her eyes questioning.  
"I'll demand that they leave the islands for good." Glancing about, Crash noticed the tunnel split into a series of longer tunnels, creating a labyrinth. Abandoned mine carts and equipment lay everywhere, back from when Cortex was mining for coal in these parts. "Hmm… I never explored the deeper chambers," Crash murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. "I sure hope Tina's fine…"  
"Aww, don't you worry," Scorch grinned, flashing his teeth in a friendly grin. Since Crash had saved him, Scorch's attitude towards Crash had turned a full one eighty, the young dragon now idolizing and liking Crash a lot. "Spark and I know these tunnels well! We live here after all! We'll show you the way to mother's nest in no time!"  
Giving Scorch the thumb's up, Crash mentioned, "Lead the waylizard man."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen  
Clash of the Titans

"Wargh!" Crunch yelped as he was thrown forcefully against the metal wall. With a clang and a dent, Crunch's body slid to the ground, as he groaned, climbing to his feet again. Twisting his head and spitting out a mouthful of red blood, Crunch snarled as he turned to Tiny, the massive tiger roaring in maniacal laughter as he paced towards Crunch, the clinking of the chains attached to his wristbands dragging across the ground.  
"Right," Crunch snapped as he glared to Tiny, flattening his ears down in anger. "Now the gloves are off you pussy cat!" Crunch pounded his metal fist into his other hand to express his threat to Tiny.  
Bellowing another ear-splitting roar that echoed throughout the entire facility, Tiny jumped up and down, screaming in a furious rage, "Tiny crush you! Make you bleed! Chew on bandicoot bones!"  
"Yeah, yeah," Crunch sneered, blood still dribbling down from his chin. "I've heard it all before. Now why don't you come over like a good little kitty and you'll get a nice pat."  
Screeching his almighty roar once again, Tiny charged towards Crunch, raising his massive claws and jaws ready for the kill. Side-stepping the blow as Tiny smashed into the metal wall; Crunch darted to the side to assess his current situation.  
Both he and Tiny had tumbled and brawled their way down to the brewery for the barrels of Cortex's potent toxic chemicals. Behind a thick glass barrier, a large electric generator sat buzzing and humming away, above a pool of green smudge that powered the electric machine and powered all of Castle Cortex.  
In the room they were in, barrel upon barrel of toxic waste was lying as some spilt their contents onto the ground, making for a funky smell and slippery floor.  
Bellowing a roar as he turned again to charge Crunch, Tiny made a move as Crunch snagged the nearest barrel and hurled it at Tiny with all the strength he could muster. A heavy clang and Tiny stumbled back, a little dazed from the blow, before bellowing another furious roar and lashing out with his chains.  
"Yeow!" Crunch groaned as he clenched his blooded arm, the whip like chain having torn open a wound upon his forearm. The sharp sting of the metal sent angry chills through Crunch's viens as he glanced ahead to see Tiny rearing for another strike…  
CLANG.  
Catching the chain as it wrapped itself around his metal gauntlet, Crunch gave a heave, hauling Tiny towards him and drawing back his injured arm with a heavy smack to the tiger's jaw.  
With a snap, the chain from Tiny's right arm broke off, remaining in Crunch's metal fist as the bulk of the tiger went flying into a pile of barrels, more metal thuds bellowing about.  
"Arrrrrggghhh!" Tiny screamed in a furious rage as he leapt from the barrel pile, charging to Crunch again, his bloodshot eyes furious to tear Crunch limb from limb. "Tiny smash you! Tiny mush you into mash! Tiny shall kill you!"  
Ducking and sweeping with a low kick, Crunch knocked the legs from the tiger as Tiny went sprawling and sliding across the ground, a large heap of fur and muscle that smashed into several more barrels before coming to a stop among the wreckage.  
And again, the tiger got up, furiously screaming, roaring and hollering his hatred for everything. He hated bandicoots. He hated life. He hated pain. He hated Cortex. He hated that thing there and that thing over there.  
But most of all…  
He hated being beaten.  
"Tiny throw!" the tiger screamed as he grasped a large barrel in his claws and hurled in towards Crunch with all his strength.  
Ducking, Crunch laughed! "Ha! You missed! You big dumb ox! You--" PANG! "Oww! Why you, sonnava…" Crunch bellowed as he cradled his aching temple in his metal fist, having been hit by the second barrel as he was gloating. "Right! It's clobbering time!"

Cassie gave a yawn as she lazed back in the chair. Tossing a strand of her blonde hair from her head, she gave another sigh, twirling the lock in her hair. She didn't want to just sit here, doing nothing while Crash and the others were all in danger.  
"Do I really have to…?"  
"Yes," Brio snapped before she finished. His fingers wear drumming madly across the keyboard as the systems were running full-bore to unscramble and piece together the damaged files. "I'm sorry, but until we know exactly what you were created for, its dangerous to let you go out." Cassie slumped back into her chair in a huff. It didn't matter how fast Brio worked or how hard he pushed the system, it was taking forever to decode the system files from their damaged and corrupted states to normal.  
Nodding off slightly, Cassie yawned and closed her eyes…

Just… for a… moment…

"_You are the perfect warriors. The four of you…"  
_'Huh?' Cassie thought to her-self as she dreamt. 'I know that voice…' As she watched her dream, slipping into her sub-conscious memories, a strange blue ice surrounded her, causing Cassie to panic in fear realizing she was trapped.  
"_So what?" snapped a sassy voice. It was easy to see this voice challenged the authority of whoever was out there. "Doesn't mean we hold anything to you. You may have made us, but you don't control us…"  
_'What? Is this… Is this a memory from when I was in the capsule?' Cassie wondered as she noticed several shadows from the other side of the ice.  
"_Look," the voice snapped, angry and annoyed. "I'll cut you a deal, fine? Do this job for me and I will grant your wishes you hear? You wanted revenge right? Fine. You can command my army for a mission to attain that. You want your memories; no problem. I can restore them in a snap. And you want wealth right? Nothing simpler. And you… Well, what is it that you want?"  
__The sassy voice chuckled darkly, "Nothing you could ever 'promise' Cortex."  
_'Cortex?' Cassie's mind thought for a moment. This **was** a vision of the past, something that happened while she was still imprisoned.  
"_Now listen here!" Cortex's voice snapped, his shadow getting agitated. "I created you, so I own you all, and don't you EVER forget it! The Crystal Palace **will** rise and you **will** aid me in helping to collect the Power Crystals or else you'll be just like her…" The shadow pointed towards the casing Cassie was currently confined in.  
__The sassy one barked a laugh, "You never owned us you little fool. Just test our patience and you will experience a world of pain…"  
_"Cassie! Cassie, wake up damn you!" Brio shook her body.  
"Wha? Where's the fire?" Cassie blinked tired as she glanced about, back in Brio's lab. "What's the emergency there Brio?"  
Brio pointed to the screen. "The next information has been pieced together and it looks like there's some major trouble. This experiment was designed for raw power and man, from what I've read it packs quite a wallop!"  
"How so?" Cassie questioned looking up at the screen, reading the detailed bio that had been decoded from the database of scrambled code.  
Clicking with his mouse, Brio brought up two profiles of two other creations; the other bandicoot Cassie captured earlier and a large cat like creation. At once, Cassie felt a pang of guilt about what she had done to that other bandicoot.  
"Crunch and Tiny," Brio pointed to the two photo bios. "Both were tested for their strength. Crunch has a strength level of 95, while Tiny had one of 120. From this bio of this female power experiment, it seems it reached 380…"  
"What the hell?"  
"Before the machine short circuited from an overload," Brio frowned, biting his lip in worry. "According to this, the experiment continues to grow stronger and stronger, its power knowing no limits as long as she continues to get mad."  
"Crickey…" Cassie gasped as she looked up, reading through the information for her-self.

"Get over here!" Crunch roared as he snagged Tiny's other chain with his metal paw, yanking the tiger towards him as the room lay in shambles around the two of them. Left, right, left, right, uppercut and slam… Crunch sent the tiger flying back towards the back wall, the tiger climbing to his feet again, growling and bellowing in rage.  
Both were covered in bloody wounds and bruises and missing teeth. Yet neither was yet to yield in this fight to the death between the titans.  
Roaring as he lifted another barrel, Tiny screamed, "Die! Die! Bandicoot die!" as he launched the metal projectile through the air. "Why don't bandicoot die?"  
Ducking again, this time, there was a loud smash and a splash, as the barrel punched a hole through the glass and into the metal tomb of sludge and electrical currents of the main generator. Crunch looked to the generator with a mad and wild idea.  
With a war cry, Tiny charged Crunch again, the bandicoot dodging the blow and landing his own uppercut upon the tiger's chin. At once, Crunch launched into a frenzy of punching and kicking, not letting up and taking anything that Tiny struck him with. He had to daze this behemoth just long enough to carry out his plan…  
Tiny swayed on the spot for just a moment…  
Seizing the chance, Crunch grabbed his tail and began to swing the tiger about. He had one shot at this and only the one, else the fight would continue…  
Releasing the tail, the tiger smashed through the hole in the glass and struck the metal generator. Several thousand volts of pure electrical energy coursed through the tiger's body as Tiny roared in pain and frustration…  
The machine started to go wild as Tiny glowed bright blue and yellow, sparks flying everywhere and the lights flickering. At the last moment, Crunch decided to hit the deck as a loud bang echoed throughout the entire island and everything went dark.

The ringing still in his ears as Crunch slowly climbed to his feet, growling at the singed fur upon his back, dim red backup power lights lit up the room. The shattered remains of the generator were still sparking as the seemingly dead body of Tiny floated in the sludge.  
Stumbling over to the body, Crunch reached down to his wrist and gave a gasp. Even after all of **THAT** there was still a pulse in his veins. "Damn. You cats must really have nine lives…" Crunch growled as he hauled Tiny's lifeless body from the muck. "Someone as greater foe as you doesn't deserve to die."  
Laying Tiny in a location from the toxic green smudge, Crunch clicked his arm back into place as he assessed his current situation. The power was cut for Cortex. That meant that at least for a while, the locks to the castle gates would be down. If he was to get into the castle, now was the time…  
Glancing to Tiny once more, Crunch grinned, "Good fight there cat. I look forward to a rematch someday."  
The lifeless body uttered a soft growl.

"I'll take that as a yes."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen  
Royal Rumble

"C'mon! C'mon!" Spark gave a shout as she dashed forward through the rocky tunnel, Scorch behind her tail and Crash following behind panting. Steam was let off from the smouldering stones as molten magma flowed beneath the catacombs, creating a dim light to the darkness of the tunnels. The heat was intense and Crash's tongue lolled from his mouth.  
"Far out…" the bandicoot gasped, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he kneeled over for a rest. "It sure is hot down here…"  
Barking a laugh, Scorch grinned back to Crash, "Hot? Wuss. This isn't even lukewarm in temperate you know… You should try a nice bath in the lava sometime. It's quite a nice feeling to laze about in the liquid magma, not having to worry about a thing."  
"Maybe for you…" Crash whined, panting again, a small smile on his face however. "You aren't covered from head to toe in flammable fur."  
Shrugging Scorch added, "It's a little cooler in Momma's nest. She has a hot spring of water in there, so you'll find it a little easier to cope I guess." Glancing ahead again, Scorch turned back to Crash, "We're not too far now you know. Pick up the pace and we'll be there in no time."  
With a nod, Crash stood back up and was about to say something more, when a squeal from Spark was heard from further down the tunnel. Crash blinked for a moment, before her voice echoed again through the chamber walls, "Crash! Help!"  
"Spark!" Scorch gave a shout as his wings unfolded and he took to flight down the tunnels, Crash breaking into a sprint. Sliding around the corner, knocking several stones into the river of lava to the side and dashing down the side tunnel, following Scorch's shadowy form in the air, there was another round through a corner and then a sudden burst of light.  
A large gem sat in the centre of the chamber, illuminating the scene before Crash. There was a crater dug out of the stone, creating a nest in the ground, several broken egg-shells littering the inside of the nest as a large figure sat in the nest. A pool of water was in the corner, steam from the water being a hot spring.  
Ember was chained to the ground, her body struggling and pulling as her legs and jaws and tail and wings were all lashed tightly to the ground with thick chains. The matriarch's eyes darted to Crash, both a confused and hopeful look in her eyes, as the mother looked to him and Scorch at the entrance to the nest.  
And on top of Ember's head, resting an arm upon the large jewel from Ember's forehead and in the other, holding a struggling and squealing Spark, was another of the black hooded Femme Fatale. Crash instantly recognized this one as the one that had held Scorch before hand, for its sheer size. It struck Crash for a moment that this might have been Tiny in disguise, but then he remembered having heard the voice and knowing that different, deep voice of a girl.  
"Crash!" Spark shouted, excited. Ember gave a mumbled growl of pleasure to see him as well.  
"Pfft," snorted the hooded figure, glaring at Crash with glowing red eyes. "So you still think you can defeat us do you, you little skunk? All you mammals are the same."  
Glowering back at the figure, Crash glanced to Spark, still struggling away. "Let her go," Crash ordered to the member of the Femme Fatale. "Spark's done nothing to you."  
"You want this brat?" the black figure snapped angrily. With a heavy throw, she hurled Spark at the ground, sliding the dragon towards Crash. "Take her. I have no need for such a monster. Now as for you," the figure slid a muscled and scaly clawed hand from the cloak as she slid the claw between Ember's scales, drawing a trickle of royal red blood. "We shall finally have our sweet vengeance."  
"Hey!" Crash bellowed to her again. "I'm not done with you yet! Leave Ember alone as well. She has neither done anything to you…"  
"Wrong!" the figure roared, sparks flying from her breath. "She did everything to us. She destroyed our former life, stealing the royal right from us. She took everything that was meant to be mine! She ruined everything and now I am naught by a shadow of myself!"  
Ember's eyes flew wide open as she struggled again, causing the figure to leap from her head and to the ground as she moved enough to move her mouth and gasp out, "K-Kirin?"  
"No!" snapped the figure, clenching her fists. "Kirin is dead. You killed her when you left her to Cortex's robots. I have been reborn as this…" the hooded figure glared down at her hands. "This… abomination Cortex created me as. And you, you stole my right to become matriarch, dear little sister!"  
Crash's eyes flew wide open, as Scorch and Spark stared in shock.  
The black figure doubled over for a moment, before two red and black large leathery wings tore through the black fabric shredding it to pieces as her claws ripped what was left from the body. Red slit eyes glared from her face, behind a snout that was filled with razor sharp fangs and hot breath that flecked flame. Huge muscles bulged madly, from leg to arm, all bulked up in a way even Tiny would be proud of. A thick whip like tail erupted from the spine, stripes of black crawling up the spine, hidden by long black messy hair that hung down as far as her waist.  
And then she expressed the proof of royalty; a gemstone protruding from her forehead of ruby glittered before them.  
The red anthro dragon bellowed for a moment, before barking, "Kirin is dead. Now there's only Tyra! Tyra Tiamat."  
Another laugh was heard from above as Crash twisted around to see two other black figures and also Karma sitting from a higher ledge above the nest, watching. The chameleon poked her long tongue out at Crash, upset that he had beaten her.  
"Well bandicoot," the leader murred. "Looks like we are back together again. It seems there's a bit of a conflict going on here. Perhaps you are willing to wager again? The life of your dragon friend Ember seems to hang in the balance at this point."  
Crash blinked, watching. "And what?"  
Tyra snapped the answer to Crash, "If you want to save her, you must defeat me." Tyra punched her fist into her palm to express it. "But you are a fool, if you think _you_ can defeat the princess of dragons."  
Glancing to Tyra's massive, imposing bulk, and then to the helpless Ember and the worried fledglings, Crash knew he had little choice in the matter. He **had** to fight. "Fine, bring it… on" Crash lightly stammered, only a touch bit afraid of what Tyra would do to him.  
Giving a roar, Tyra spat hot flames into the air as she spread her wings, lifting into the air. Giving a yelp and rolling to the side, Crash narrowly missed as Tyra blew past him, streams of molten flame erupting from her mouth.  
Back flipping backwards and landing some distance away, Crash gave a yell and charged forward himself, leaping to connect a flying kick with Tyra when the dragon turned and…  
Crash landed seeing stars. Not even Tiny had ever packed such a wallop. Dazed and confused, Crash looked up as Tyra raised her fists and he rolled away at the last minute leaping to his feet.  
Only for a second though.  
Tyra's strike against the ground caused a massive tremor, knocking Crash off his feet and to the ground, as several cracks split in the ground, caused by Tyra's strike. Crash stared for a moment in shock. Tiny's strength was unable to ever do more than dent metal, never so much as crack stone or cause a small earthquake.  
Suddenly, there was a slam and Crash rolled to the side again, towards the small pool of water in the corner, as Tyra pounded the ground with her whip-like tail. The dragon roared again in anger as she leapt towards Crash, the bandicoot leaping to his feet as Tyra smashed her fist into the ground, causing an even bigger eruption in the tremors.  
"What the?" Crash shouted as he struggled to keep to his feet. How did she get stronger in such a short period of time? It was like her power was growing stronger and stronger with every passing…  
"Whoa!" Crash rolled to the side again as Tyra erupted yet another stream of inferno upon Crash as he ran to the side. Panting for a moment, Crash sniffed the air…  
Something was burning…  
"Yaargh!" Crash gave a shout as he ran towards the water, the backside of his jeans on fire. Leaping into the water, the fire was instantly out as Crash ran his hand over to check. Just a bit of blackening, they thankfully weren't burnt through.  
He loathed the jeering laughs of the three watching the fight from above.  
Tyra growled as she paced around the shore of the water, waiting for Crash. The bandicoot wondered for a moment why didn't come to get him, when she drew back another breath of flame, and Crash gave a shout, dashing from the pool around, as fast as his legs could carry him, to Ember.  
Scorch and Spark were attempting to chew through the chains to no avail, when Ember growled to Crash, "She'll just keep getting stronger as long as she's mad. It's the same with all dragons… You gotta put out her flames to kill her strength!"  
"What?" Crash blinked; a sudden panic as he heard flapping wings approaching.  
"Dump her in the water!"  
Giving a yelp as he ducked to avoid Tyra's swooping strike, Crash bounced back towards the water as Tyra, still flying, rounded for another attack; Crash came up with an idea. Steeling his terrified nerves, Crash waited for the perfect moment to strike…  
Leaping straight up, Crash landed on Tyra's back, the dragon giving a surprised yelp as the extra weight caused her wings to collapse. Falling upon the ground with a thud and sliding across the rocky soil, Crash leapt from Tyra's back as the dragon slid right into the pool of water with a splash.  
Punching the air with his fist, Crash gave a whoop, which was cut short as a furious Tyra emerged from the water, bellowing again. Raising her fist, Crash cowered before the killer blow, but instead was tapped by the fist.  
"Huh?" Tyra gasped. "No! No!"  
Grinning, Crash took this chance. Slamming hard into Tyra with a spinning attack, Crash knocked her straight back into the water. Tyra raised from the water again, but this time, instead of trying to attack, she growled and pouted. "This isn't over mammal. I'll be back."  
Then, lifting with her wings, Tyra flew over to the other members of Femme Fatale. "Well, well… Proven again you are unique there bandicoot. Fine, we shall spare the dragon for now. But we will meet again and trust me… It won't be so easy."  
Then, with a simple turn, she and the other hooded figure turned. Tyra gave Crash the one finger salute, while Karma pulled down her eye-lid and poked out her tongue again, before they left, leaving Crash with Ember and the fledglings.

"You surprise me again…" Ember shook her head as she stood before Crash, her eyes wide. The chains lay scattered around the room, having been pulled from Ember's body."Again, you rush to my aid, yet I never asked for you, or offered any reward…"  
Shrugging and grinning, scratching his back, Crash answered, "Well, I don't except anything. I was just glad to help out in the end."  
Smiling, her large fangs and jaws no longer fearsome to Crash, Ember sighed. Her two fledglings sat near her front talons, smiling and happy that things were back to normal once again. "Kirin may have changed to Tyra, but I'm sure that Kirin is still there somewhere. In the meantime," Ember smiled back to Crash as she leant her head down. With a swift motion, she smacked the draconite jewel on her forehead on a nearby rock, causing a small clip to break loose. "You Crash, have the friendship of the dragons anytime you should ever need it." She nosed to the small shard on the ground as Crash picked it up. It was shaped in the shape of a teardrop. "Use this jewel any time you need help, and I will know and I will come."  
Beaming widely as he looked to the gem in his paw, Crash nodded, "Thank you lady Ember. It is an honour."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen  
Awaking Memories

Rolling the sand through his paws as he sat on the beach, watching the setting sun, Crash gazed across the wide body of water that separated him from Castle Cortex and the abandoned island that he was currently sitting on. Holding the gemstone that Ember had given him, Crash gazed into the rich red of the gem, before depositing it safely into his pocket.  
Crash had left the happy dragon family to their nest deep within the mountains, hoping for the best in that they would not be disturbed by Cortex again. Ember's stash of Crystals was still safe in the higher reaches of the Snowy Peak, hidden from view. Pleased that all was well, Crash had returned to gather the boat and paddle over to Cortex's island.  
But there had been a small hitch in his plans. The boat had disappeared, with several footprints of a small, bipedal lizard around the boat. Crash knew that Tina had struggled towards the boat and taken it back to N. Sanity Island, but in doing so, had stranded Crash without a form of transportation.  
Laying back to gaze at the sun, Crash was about to take a late evening nap when, "Crash! Crash!" a voice from out in the water squeaked to Crash.  
"Huh?" Crash murmured as he sat up, looking out to the water. Floating near the shallows was Delphi, dancing and splashing about in the water, as Spot splashed about in slightly deeper waters, Gleam watching the two of them from a distance. "Hey phinnys!" Crash grinned out to them. "What are you all up to this far out at this time of the day?"  
"Not much," Delphi gave her grin adorability. "Just playing…"  
At this point, Gleam approached the shallows, nudging Delphi lightly with her nose. "Go play with your brother Delphi… I think I'd better talk to Crash for a bit…"  
"Okay Mama," Delphi giggled as she swam over to her bigger orca brother, Spot, splashing him with her fins as they charged about, spraying and splashing the shallows.  
Gleam smiled lightly as Crash waded into the deeper water, it reaching up to his chest, "So adorable… They don't even suspect they aren't the same species but still treat each other as brother and sister…"  
Crash watched the two younger dolphins for a moment, before asking, "Gleam… Why did you adopt Spot? I mean, surely his own mother…"  
Gleam sadly shook her head, sadness flooding her eyes. "It was several years ago that I found him, a nearly starved newborn with no mother. He came to me, and though originally I didn't want him, I couldn't leave him. I was carrying Delphi at the time, and when she was born, Spot had come to learn that I was his mother… He remembered nothing about his ordeal beforehand." Gleam blew in a sigh, her own memories troubling her. "He sometimes has nightmares though. Wakes up afraid, telling of screaming, blood and struggling. Humans with a net and harpoons… Somehow I fear his mother captured and killed by some humans, orphaning the young calf days after birth…"  
"That's appalling," Crash glared, disgusted and ashamed of what they had done to the young orca.  
Gleam nodded before smiling, "I've been trying to find out what happened myself, so maybe one day I can explain it to him…" She cast her eye to Crash, "He remembers a bit more every time I take him to the place that I found him years ago. I was taking the young ones there right now, to the Sunken Shrine."  
Crash's ears perked up at hearing this, "Sunken Shrine?"  
"Yes," Gleam blinked. "It was a human built temple that an earthquake eons ago sunk into the waves, creating an underwater citadel. I can only go as far as the entrance, for the main shrine inside is trapped within an air pocket… But I see the mural in the main chamber, depicting the Oracle and the three Black Pearls that…"  
"Black what?" Crash gasped as he reached into his pocket, grasping the pearl and pulling it out to show Gleam, whose eyes widened suddenly.  
"You have a pearl!" her eyes darted about, both in panic and excitement. Then, with a flip of her tail, Gleam ordered, "Put it back into your pocket and hold on to my dorsal. You must come to the shrine yourself now… If you hold one of the pearls, then maybe the legends of the Oracle are true as well…"  
Stuffing the pearl into his pocket, Crash nodded to Gleam, "Right then… Let's get going," as he took a deep breath, and clutching his paws around the dolphin's dorsal fin.

"Brio…" Cassie moaned, her voice downtrodden and bored. "I don't like being here. I feel guilty and want to get out there, helping the others…"  
"I don't think that's a good idea Cassie…" Brio growled for the umpteenth time. "First of all, we need to know what you are capable of, and then we need to plan out how you can help the others…"  
Cassie opened her mouth to answer, when the door blasted open, causing Polar, Pura, Cassie and Brio to turn and observe their intruder. Stumbling into the room, growling and moaning at the twisted, bleeding mess of her leg was a young female dinosaur hatchling. Part of the bone was protruding from the leg, as a black pus seemed to be seeping from the wounds, bloating the leg, several leeches attached to the open wound, sucking blood.  
"Tina!" Pura gasped as he leapt to the side of the T-Rex, helping to support her. Cassie also leapt from her seat, rushing over to help walk the injured ally to somewhere comfortable. A rug and cushion rested in the far corner of the leg as Pura and Cassie helped the young hatchling towards it.  
"T-thanks…" Tina stammered, shivering slightly with the cold. "Owe y-you…"  
"Rubbish!" Polar barked as he brought over the cushion, laying it down on the ground as they lay Tina down to rest. "What happened to you?"  
The dinosaur grimaced as her injured leg was lifted and laid upon the pillow, Polar and Pura tearing off the leeches with their jaws, "I decided to wrestle an alligator…"  
"Crocodile," corrected Brio as he opened a drawer, pulling out a roll of white cloth, a large stick and several rubber bands. "There are only crocodiles in these parts…"  
"Oh shut up," growled Tina.  
"Cassie," Brio handed her the items in his hand. "Can you please splint her leg and bandage it?" Then in a lower voice, he added with his eyes down turned, "I don't think it'll do much though. That infection looks fatal… It's Black Spate."  
"Uhh…" Cassie stammered her eyes wide. "I've never done that before…"  
"Just do your best…" Brio added in a low voice, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'll see if there's something I can find to ease the pain in her final hours… Don't tell Polar and Pura."  
Swallowing Cassie tried to guess at what needed to be done. Placing the stick against the wound, she bumped it against an exposed bone, causing Tina to howl in anger and pain. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Cassie pleaded, covering her mouth with her hand; tears were beginning to well in her eyes, tears of fear and sadness.  
"Here!" Pura offered his squishy bone toy to Tina. "Bite down on it when it hurts…"  
It saddened Cassie to learn that Tina would die, as she watched the tiger and polar bear fuss over their friend, tending to her. Sniffing as more tears came to her eyes, Cassie wiped those tears from her eyes, flicking the salty droplets away, towards Tina's wound. Then, taking a deep breath, she set her-self to bandage the wound.  
Within a few moments, Cassie had wrapped the leg and bandaged it, as Polar and Pura fussed over their friend, Cassie slowly moving away. She didn't wish to watch as the infant slowly slipped into a coma, and into the final rest before her…

Coco lay sprawled over the stone ground. Her head hurt badly and she couldn't move, but she felt as if her body was far away. Distant and far, as a vision came to her, wrenching her soul from her body and into the past, present or future… Whatever the vision was showing her…

_Two young native boys knelt before three strong figures. An aura of white light shone from behind the thrones of these figures, hiding them from view.  
__The first boy looked fearful and under confident. He meekly sat there, watching, several feathers of bright colours protruding from his hair.  
__The other, grinned with a smug grimace on his face. His hair was tied back in place with a bone through his hair and two bones hanging as ear-rings from his ears.  
__The figure of power in the centre stood up, booming with his voice to the two boys, "We, the Ancient Ancestors, guardians of order and the purest hearts are here to today acknowledge both of these fine two young men, as they traverse from the reaches of boyhood, and into manhood.  
_"_Both have proven them-selves to be powerful witchdoctors, one being a fine healer and sage for the tribe, whilst the other proves his cunning in battle, to be a fine warrior for our tribe. Both have grown from boys to men and we will award them with their tribal masks to welcome them as men into the tribe…"  
__Both standing, the meek boy was first handed a mask. It was made from wood, unpainted and unmarked as a face was carved into it, four coloured feathers from the top of the mask and a green tuff of fur as a beard at the bottom.  
_"_The mask of the Healer is now yours," the Ancestor nodded to the boy as he bowed before the mage, before taking his leave from the hut.  
__The second boy was handed a mask, painted black, striped of yellow and red across the forehead. Bones adorned the top of the mask and hung from the sides, while a twisted and jagged beard of sharp shell lined the bottom.  
_"_And to you, we present the mask of the Warrior."  
_

_The first boy was walking through a dirt track alone, slowly, looking at his mask. Suddenly, two hands from behind shoved him to the ground, laughing. The second boy laughed as he presented his mask to his brother before him, "My mask, is that of a warriors. And you dear brother, are a Healer." The boy laughed again, glaring down at him, "I'm almost ashamed that you are my twin…"  
_"_There is no shame in being a healer," the first boy ordered as he climbed to his feet, only to be pushed back down by his twin brother.  
__Laughing again, the nasty one snapped, "No, the real reason is dear brother… My dear Aku-Aku… Is that they only want truly powerful ones to be warriors. The Ancient Ancestors see nothing in you, as that is what you are! Nothing!"  
__Glaring up at his brother, the boy Aku-Aku snapped back, "I'd rather be nothing, than a vile creature like you Uka-Uka…" moments before Uka-Uka gave him a sharp kick in the stomach.  
__Uka-Uka glared as he grabbed his brother by the head, yanking back his hair, "You will respect me, or I will destroy you myself… Brother or not." Then, throwing Aku-Aku into the ground, he walked off, muttering, "Farewell brother. I'll be glad to see the last of you…"_

"Wake up you rat!" shrieked a voice, causing Coco to finally open her eyes. She blinked hazily one, two and three times, finding her's-self facing the sneering mug of Nina Cortex. "About time you woke up! Now get your squirrelly butt over here at once…"  
Nina grinned, expressing her buckteeth.  
"Pinstripe is wanting to help… _make you talk_ so to speak…"

Crash shook his fur free of the water as he entered the chamber. Below, Gleam was talking to Spot and Delphi as Crash climbed the steps, up towards the huge mural up before him. It showed a carving of the great stone idol that littered many of the islands, the three Black Pearls resting upon three altars and a person that appeared to be half animal, standing between them.  
Running his paw prints over it, Crash murmured, looking to the carving of the person, "This is some real freaky stuff going on here…"  
Instead of going back to Gleam, Crash ventured on a bit further, two passages to the sides of the mural seemed to lead to a chamber further back in the shrine. As Crash entered the chamber, his eyes shot open wide.  
The room was flooded with water, but several stone pillars created a small grid of stepping stones across the pool, towards a platform on the other side…  
And on the other side, were the three altars for the Pearls…

And the giant stone carving of the Oracle…


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen  
The Sorrowful Siren 

Crash wasted no time standing in awe. With a hop from platform to platform, Crash stepped over the deep pool of water, droplets breaking the silence of the shrine, along with his tapping of his shoes upon the ancient stone ground.  
No soul had stepped inside this shrine within a thousand years at the very least. The soft dripping of the water upon the water was the only sounds that echoed in this silent temple. It was a forbidding and unwelcome feeling to Crash, as he felt as if an intruder within the sanctuary of many years of dormant peace of the relics.  
It seemed as if the stone shrines were alive and whispering to one another, low voices within the walls talking, speaking of the intruder to their eternal peace.  
And before him, the massive idol loomed; the Oracle of legend from Papu's tribe. Carved from the stone, each little detail shaped to perfection, the Oracle remained slumbering, eyelids closed and silent as Crash drew near.  
The three podiums lay before the idol's face, upon the platform before him. Retrieving the Black Pearl within his pocket, Crash glanced into it. It was shiny and black, reflecting everything in perfection as he rolled it about in his paw and saw…  
"You!" Crash snapped as he spun around, having spotted the approaching figure from the reflection. Swinging his paw to hide the pearl, Crash glowered as another hooded figure of the Femme Fatale approached him slowly; almost a painful and fearful gait to her pace. The cloak dripped, drenched with water as it clung to her body, as Crash realized she had been hiding in the water the entire time.  
"Please…" the figure whispered with her voice low. The voice was oddly 'sung' as the tone was strung together, like the lyrics of a song, than words in a sentence. The melodious tone caught Crash slightly off-guard as he listened. "I need you no harm"  
Crash glowered to the figure, unsure of what to feel. "What are **you** doing here?" he demanded.  
The figure halted in her approach as she stood there, seemingly distressed. "That pearl. Please… I need it from you. My need is greater than yours"  
Frowning, Crash growled, "Forget it! If you want your paws on this," he held up the pearl, "Then I can't let you have it unless I trust you, and frankly, I don't trust any of you or your group"  
"You don't understand," the voice behind the cloak pleaded, almost begging. "I do what I have to with them, so I can finally reclaim my lost memories back"  
Again, perplexed, Crash blinked, "Your memories"  
"Cortex erased all my memories long ago. I can't remember anything before meeting the other four members of the Femme Fatale, but I know something is there… There has to be," the figured pleaded, before sinking to its knees before Crash, still cloaked fully over. "I beg of you to let me have that pearl, so I can claim what I have lost long before back again"  
Crash didn't answer, still confused fully. Could it be just a ruse, or was this member of the Femme Fatale truly genuine? Finally he asked, "Who are you under there"  
The robed girl did not answer.  
Instead, she merely lifted her paws and pulled back her hood…

"Grrr!" Cortex snarled as the light blue glow of the back-up power supply kicked in, lighting up the control room with its faint luminescent glow. Even in the darkness, N. Gin could witness Cortex hopping up and down in a furious rage, tearing at his hair. "Blast that bumbling, pea-brained baboon of a tiger! He destroyed all the main power to the Castle! All security is down"  
"Do not worry Dr. Cortex," N. Gin whined as he approached his master. "The back generator is warming up and within ten minutes the Castle will be restored to full power"  
Cortex turned to N. Gin, lifting an eye-brow, "Was it your idea to position Tiny in the Generator room"  
"Me?" N. Gin blinked, rolling his robotic eye. "Oh no, Doctor Cortex. I don't get ideas"  
Petting N. Gin's missile, Cortex smiled, "Good boy. Now, to business… We have Coco in custody, Crunch's location is most likely towards entering the Castle, and Cassie seems to have allied her's-self to the Bandicoots, while Crash's location is unknown, meaning he is either dead or currently being kept busy by some other force…" Chuckling darkly to himself, Cortex laughed, "All the pieces are set. It's time for those bandicoots to give us one HELL of a show before they are forever buried"  
Then, Cortex spun about, facing into the dark shadows of the control room, "Everything is going as according to plan as you promised"  
In the gloomy shadows, two glowing yellow, soulless eyes appeared, a toothy maw of jagged fangs shining in the shadow as vents of dark energy began to flow as the dark entity awoke. "Everything is fine at my end of this scheme. There will be no mistakes as long as there are none on your behalf"  
"I will not fail this time," Cortex bowed to the eyes.  
"Good," the dark entity glared to Cortex. "For I will not wait ten millennium more for what I desire this time. Should you fail me, those ten thousand years shall be spent inflicting pain and suffering upon you"  
"I will not fail, mighty Uka-Uka," Cortex sneered. "We shall soon control the greatest power of the entire universe within our hands…"

Crash gave a gasp in shock.  
He had expected something scaly and reptilian like the previous two members of the female warrior brigade, but this was completely different. While Karma and Tyra had been in their own way repulsive and cold, Crash could only think of one word that described what he saw before him…  
Beautiful.  
Long flowing hair of indigo, large green, sorrow-filled eyes and a true sense of hopelessness, this creature was no reptile. A hole appeared just underneath her hair, puffing and wheezing slightly. At first it confused Crash as he thought it was a mammal, but it had no fur. Its skin was a strong black against bright white and was silky smooth as if the creature was made from rubber as the skin shined in the pale light of the chamber.  
Suddenly, it struck Crash what this creature was as it stood up, the cloak sliding from its body. Halfway down its spine, a large protrusion erupted like a shark's fin and a long, strong tail dragged behind. As inane as it seemed, Cortex had actually created an aquatic warrior, complete in wearing a bathing suit from The orca blinked to Crash, before holding out her hand and pleading, "Please"  
Crash frowned, before shaking his head. "No. I'm sorry"  
The aquatic anthro looked hurt on the verge of bursting into tears, when she let out an ear-splitting shriek, causing Crash to yelp in pain. His eardrums felt like they were about to explode as the creature screamed in anger and frustration. Once the scream was finally over, Crash was able to remove his paws from his ears, which were now trickling blood.  
"Well, well," sneered another voice further away. Crash turned his head to see Tyra, Karma and the leader of the group standing on the far side, watching. "Now this is interesting! Care to wager once again bandicoot? Feeling lucky enough to go for the hat trick"  
Crash just glowered as the orca glared back at him.  
Tyra barked, "Opalana Orca is a shove over. He'll cream her"  
"Hey!" the orca Opalana snapped, her sad expression melting to one of desperate rage.  
Karma snickered, waving her tongue, "Maybe… in fair combat. But I know the rat can't swim and look where the arena lies… And what advantage Opalana has to him"  
"You want the pearls?" the leader offered Crash. "The winner will get to use them to obtain the audience of the Oracle and discover secrets about their past and their future by offering the gift of three Black Pearls to the Oracle"  
"You can't!" Opalana took a step back in shock, her jaw dropping. Crash was noticing now that the team didn't seem to favour this member as strongly. Or that they just didn't care about her desires. "I… I need those! I have to have them"  
The leader snickered to Opalana's comment. "Then make sure you don't lose"  
Watching as Opalana turned to him, Crash could hardly see how she could be dangerous. She lacked claws and any seemingly obvious weapons to… "Oh damn…" Crash frowned as Opalana roared in anger, baring a mouth of sharp, hooked teeth to him. Moments later, she slapped her tail angrily on the ground, sending cracking in the stone for several feet as she slowly stalked towards her prey.  
_Okaaay_, Crash made a mental note. _Stay away from the mouth and the--  
_Faster than Crash could react, he was slapped with a face-full of flukes and sent flying, seeing stars. He landed upon one of the pillar in the centre of the room, surrounded by water, as he scrambled to stay on the platform, following the bounce. Her tail slap was almost as powerful as Tiny's punch.  
As he shook his head clear and stood up on the platform, he watched as Opalana used her tail to launch her-self into the air and performed a perfect dive into the water, not even leaving a splash…  
Suddenly Crash felt very afraid…  
Being hunted by a creature of the water…  
And him being unable to swim…

_Why did I stay up to watch **Jaws** the other night?_ Crash whimpered to himself.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty  
Miracle Witnessed

"Well, well, it's about time they got the power running again," snickered Pinstripe as he waltzed about Coco, the gangster rat sneering at the little bandicoot in a gloating fashion while the lights flickered back into action. His accent reeked more of cheese than his breath did as he spoke like someone named Giovanni or some other Italian name. Cocked in his arms, his Tommy-gun was locked and locked, the barrel pointed towards Coco. "Look what the cat dragged in. Youse bandicoots are more trouble than yer are worth, oh brother. But now you little missy are right in the hot water aren't we?"  
"Shove it!" Coco sneered as she stood defiantly, arms crossed. She knew now, that it had been Pinstripe with the butt of his gun that had knocked her out in the factory.  
Having been brought to Pinstripe's chamber, Coco knew it all too well, modelled after the secret den of mafia in movies, complete with a poker and billiards table. Posters of Cortex and Pinstripe lined the walls as everything was fancy and expensive… Even the rug on the ground was a fine woven oriental rug.  
A shelf expressed a line of Pinstripe's trophies, ranging from rifle shooting to ten pin bowling.  
The window outside showed the setting sun, beginning to overcast with clouds, and the dull boom of thunder from the approaching storm.  
"Show yer superior some respects, or you'll be wearing them cement boots and sleeping with the fishes in no time there baby face," Pinstripe growled as Coco gave a groan and rolled her eyes.  
"You know, I'd have much preferred to remain with Nina… She may be evil, but at least she knows how to give an intelligent conversation," Coco spat.  
Pinstripe over-looked the snide comment, instead poking Coco with the barrel of his gun. "Alrights, time to spill the beans. Where are them crystals you bandicoots are hiding? And where's your brother? Our boss has plans fer him."  
"Last time I checked," Coco snarled. "He had the crystals and was going back to the Ruins Isle to help out our dragon friends. Since I have no idea…" Coco had broken her transmitter earlier before and had no way to fix it at the moment.  
And that dream…  
Had she _really_ seen a vision of the past? Aku-Aku and Uka-Uka before they became the masks? She had to get back to the others and find out.  
Pinstripe gave a sneer before chuckling, "Perfect… Then the boss' plan is coming along nicely…" He moved the gun to the side for a moment…  
Fatal mistake.  
Coco swept low and knocked Pinstripe from his feet. As soon as the thud of Pinstripe struck the carpet, she kicked again, sending the gun skidding, and another to keep Pinstripe down a few minutes more, sending his Potoroo body skidding across the ground and crashing into the wall beneath his trophies.  
Wasting no time, Coco picked up the Tommy-gun, hurling it at the window. She remembered all too well from Crash's story that Castle Cortex had a climb of platforms around the building and they'd be able to get into the castle from climbing up.  
She decided to take that route, leaping out the window to the outside ledge, swinging herself onto the rung ladder and flying down, the looming storm crackling and thundering around her.

Inside, Pinstripe snickered, pulling out his walkie-talkie, "She escaped…"  
"Perfect! Now the game gets interesting! N. Gin! Get down to the factory and make sure our two 'surprises' are ready and waiting!" Cortex's voice roared through the device.  
"What about me boss?" Pinstripe enquired, not paying attention to the creaking above him.  
"You?" Cortex questioned. "Ehh… Take a break for all I care. Your job is done."  
"Sounds good boss."  
Then the bowling ball trophy decided to drop from the sky onto his head, knocking the wannabe gangster out cold.

"Hmm…" Brio frowned as he came back to see Cassie reading at the computer screen. "I think I'm out of morphine. I don't have anything to help Tina's pain…"  
Cassie looked glum and deathly. It was hard to believe that one of Crash's friends was to die and there was nothing they could do about it. Instead, she pointed to the screen to take her mind off it, "Another profile popped up while you were gone. I've been reading it…"  
"Oh?" Brio lifted an eyebrow, glancing to the screen.  
"Yeah, and it's a strange one…" Cassie pointed out. "It was Cortex's last experiment created before the Castle was destroyed and was to be the first of a race of sea-going warriors. Its strength outside the water is mediocre, but place it near water and it gains massive advantages of speed and strength.  
"Plus its tail was a formidable weapon, capable of smashing stone pillars. But its real strength was its voice alone. It can create sounds of such high frequencies; it can cause one's head to explode!" Cassie looked troubled as she pointed it out.  
Nitrus nodded, then pointed to the final paragraph, "But there were some issues. Cortex listed them down here… It disliked killing. In fact, it would avoid conflict if at all possible. And look at this… The creature held such tight family ties, it constantly was trying to break free to find its family and Cortex was unable to control it at all, so he wiped all her memories so it could not remember a thing about its life before its capture…" Brio frowned. "It remembered _before_ it was exposed to the Evolvo-Ray? Then the creature must have had some high intelligence, in fact almost human level intelligence, even before it was experimented upon…"  
"Hey guys! What you doing?" barked a voice behind them.  
Turning around, Brio and Cassie observed Tina as the rex was gnawing off her bandages.  
"Hey! Don't do that!" Cassie protested as Tina finished tearing them off, revealing the completely healed leg, free of any open wound and Black Spate. "Huh! How… How did you heal that so fast?"  
Even Brio's jaw was dropped. Black Spate was lethal, bitten by an animal infected with the disease, the creature would die within a day, wringing in pain and agony. And there was no cure…  
Tina looked puzzled, "I… I dunno really. It began to hurt and I felt pain. Then there was warmth and then, it was like my foot felt alright. And then when I looked, even the wound was gone."  
Brio shook his head. "A miracle. That's all I can say… We've just witnessed a miracle…"  
Cassie blinked, looking down to her paws, wondering. _A miracle? Maybe… Or was it something that **I** did that caused this?  
_

Crash glanced about, turning like crazy on the little pillar of stone he had beneath his feet. He was more than just a little afraid as he had no idea where the attack was to come from. Opalana could strike from any angle and he'd never know until it was too late.  
Crash growled in frustration; He **hated** water with a passion when he was trapped like this.  
It didn't help his nerves the snickers of Karma as she watched, hanging upside down from the wall, while Tyra glowered, her muscular arms crossed in annoyance, whilst the leader remained hidden, watching for the eventual outcome of the match. On the ground before them lay the two other Black Pearls, waiting for the victor to…  
Crash snapped his vision away from the gems just in time to hop to the next pillar as Opalana gave a battle shriek, leaping from the water and trying to snatch Crash. She landed with a splash back in the water as Crash groaned, clutching his ears as he stood back up.  
As long as the orca could remain in the water, she had a major advantage over Crash. And out the water, she could scream so loud, Crash's ears bled. He didn't like this odds but he had to…  
"Whoa!" Crash shouted as he leapt up and to the side again as Opalana leapt up to the platform next to him, her cheeks bulging oddly. Crash glanced for a moment, before Opalana lowered her head and a jet stream of water erupted from the blowhole in her head. Yelping as the torrent of water forced him backwards, Crash teetered on the platforms edge, about to fall into the deep pool, before the stream stopped and Opalana leapt back into the wet.  
Spin-drying his fur, Crash suddenly gave a yelp as a jolt of electrical energy struck him. Then another, and yet another… His transmitter on his wrist was damaged and malfunctioning, zapping Crash with jolts of electricity as he ripped it from his wrist to the stone platform, where it began short circuiting violently from the damage it had suffered.  
"Yar!" Crash shouted as something grabbed his leg, dragging him down towards the pool, as Opalana's arms wrapped themselves about his leg.  
"I **must **have those jewels!" Opalana cried her desperate voice.  
In panic, Crash reached out to nab something, anything to help him. As his paw touched the transmitter, his fur stood on end and another buzz of power shot through him, zapping through the bandicoot's body, through Opalana and into the water. Opalana gave a painful screech, releasing her grip as Crash dropped the transmitter on the platform again.  
Turning, he witnessed her shadow disappearing into the gloom again.  
Each time was closer and closer towards her victory and the longer he played this battle out, the more vicious he figured she'd get. Glancing to the shorting communicator, he sighed, "Forgive me, but there is no other way…"  
Then he kicked the sparking device into the water.  
At once, the waters crackled alive with electrical energy. A huge scream was given as a figure leapt from the water, charged with the electricity, her body sparking and more as Opalana was electrocuted, the power of the micro-computer flowing through the water. Crash yelled as he covered his ears, the screaming of Opalana completely unbearable to his ears, as even the three other members of the Femme Fatale winced in pain, sheltering their ears.  
Then, the systems power must have cut as the lifeless body was Opalana crashed back into the water with an almighty splash.

And then there was silence.

"Well done…" snapped the leader of the Femme Fatale as she bent over, picking up the pearls and tossed them towards Crash. "Catch!"  
Catching the two pearls and completing the set of three, Crash grinned. Then, he frowned to the still cloaked leader, "So what? Next time it's you?"  
A deep chuckle resounded from the blackness of the hood as it was lifted slightly. Crash could see the glowing emerald eyes in the darkness of the shroud. "Indeed. But while I lack the powers of these three, you'll soon find why I am the leader… Until then, take your prize and enjoy," as she as Tyra and Karma turned and left the chamber, Karma poking her extra long tongue out once again to taunt the bandicoot.

Hopping over to the idol, Crash placed the first pearl on the first altar.  
A weak gasp was heard as Opalana dragged her battered body from the water.  
The second was placed in place.  
"Please… I beg of you…" Opalana's weakened voice beseeched.  
And then the third.  
The Oracle's eyes ripped open before Crash.  
_To the one who presents the offering, we shall now show you of the past, the present and the future as is due to you…  
_Then, there was a flash of blinding white light, illuminating the entire chamber.  
And Crash was gone, the pearls reduced to dust and the Oracle was asleep once more.

Leaving only the defeated Opalana on the edge of the altar, lamenting heavy sobbing tears at her one and only chance, now forever lost…


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One  
No Fate

Crash shielded his eyes as he was blinded by white. There was nothing but nothingness about him as he glanced about, faced with nothing but an eternity of white about him.  
_Your past is connected to one you know as a friend… Though you think your meeting was by chance Crash Bandicoot, you were bound to him by fate. A fate that shall soon come to pass once again…  
_"Huh?" Crash blinked as he floated in the white void. "Who?"  
Before Crash, a young native boy appeared. He was a young man, about Crash's age and wearing the typical native grass skirt and necklaces of beads. In his hands, he held a mask that Crash identified at once… The face of his protector and mentor…  
"Aku-Aku!" Crash gasped as the boy stood there, looking at the mask, uncertain.  
_Indeed_, the Oracle's voice once more resounded. _Your friend Aku-Aku was once human. A young witch doctor of the tribes that long ago live on this island. He was young and uncertain of his gifts to command healing and protection over the tribe, as the next witch doctor to his tribe. His story of his past is part of your future, and so you will witness what has occurred long before…  
__Allow me to take you back ten thousand years… To the arrival of the passing of the Crystal Comet…_

Crash blinked as he found himself standing in the jungle, the stars and night sky softly shining behind the clouds. He was confused at first, thinking he had been sent back, but then he noticed he could see through his paw. Giving a surprised yelp, Crash was worried, until he realized he was simply watching a vision of the past, much like watching a DVD at home.  
Before him, sat the young boy that was Aku-Aku, looking troubled at his mask as he rested upon a cliff-face. The young boy seemed uncertain and afraid. But then, as there were a few squawks and squeaks, Aku-Aku smiled, looking up as a small lizard like creature leapt through Crash's stomach from the fronds behind, towards Aku-Aku, smiling and chitterling as it brushed up against Aku's leg.  
"Hello there Chi'tk…" smiled Aku-Aku softly as he still looked perplexed. "It's always good to see a friend whenever I am worried…"  
Blinking and attempting to rub his eyes, Crash took a few steps closer to the lizard, blinking in wonder and disbelief at what he was seeing. This Chi'tk looked **exactly** like Ember, but much, much younger, just a small fledgling. Even the royal Draconite jewel was on her head.  
It was impossible… Wasn't it? This dragon was smaller than even Scorch and Spark…  
Sighing, Aku-Aku allowed the little lizard curl up in his lap as it began to purr slightly. "I… I just don't know Chi'tk… Were the Ancestors right in selecting me? My brother as a warrior, certainly… But how can I be a leader and prevent disaster befalling our village? I don't think I can do it…"  
Chi'tk chirruped, "The Ancestors have faith in you Aku-Aku." Now Crash was certain… It was babyish, but there was no doubt that was Ember's voice. "Else they would have not awarded you with the mask as they have done…"  
Holding the mask up, Aku-Aku frowned, throwing it aside. "I don't want it. I can't do it. I can't even stand up to my own twin brother, so how am I to stand up for my tribe?"  
Chi'tk leapt up, gathering the mask in her maw, then returning and placed it as Aku-Aku's feet, much like a loyal dog to her master. "Don't be like that. You have much more strength than your brother does. You have strength through your friends and allies, while your brother only ever makes enemies." The little dragon cooed softly as she nuzzled against Aku-Aku's knee. "Remember how you stood up to the tribe to spare my life and won the tribe the friendship of the dragon-kind?"  
Aku-Aku nodded, remembering, before picking up the mask again, looking at it.  
"Perhaps…" Aku-Aku tilted his head in thought. "Perhaps you are right there Chi'tk…"

_Do you begin to understand the past of Aku-Aku? _The Oracle's voice boomed as the entire world dissolved like sand around Crash.  
"Somewhat…" Crash answered. "He was unsure of himself and was friends with the dragon that I am a friend with… But if this was ten thousand years ago, how can Ember still be alive? Not even a dragon is immortal to such an amount of years…"  
_The story is of Aku-Aku and Uka-Uka, not of the dragon Chi'tk, which is her true name. To find that answer, you must look elsewhere…  
_Crash nodded as he was alone in the endless white void again. "But how did Aku-Aku become imprisoned within his own mask? Did he transfer his soul or something into the mask?"  
_We cannot show all, but we can show what else we know…_

Crash now was standing on a cliff, as Chi'tk and Aku-Aku stood watching as well. Both looked to have aged a little, meaning this was a few years later on. Chi'tk was now large enough for Aku-Aku to catch a ride on his back.  
"You are sure it's tonight?" Aku-Aku questioned as he stood watching.  
"Yes," Chi'tk answered, watching the skies. "The elders have told me that whomever witnesses the glory of the Crystal Comet shall forever be infused with great knowledge and power, and become a leader to their people…" The dragon smiled as she looked up to Aku-Aku, "They have selected me to be the new Matriarch when Tamaiyé's time is up."  
"I am glad for you…" Aku-Aku smiled, scratching his dragon companion's scaly head. "I could think of one no greater than your-self to lead the dragon-kind."  
Suddenly, there was a glimmer in the sky; one of the stars was shining brighter than the others in the skies far in the distance. Aku and Chi'tk made a step forward, looking to it.  
"Is that… it?" Aku-Aku asked in wonder.  
Chi'tk was about to answer when suddenly somewhere in the jungle, a beam of crimson magic shot towards the star. "What!" Aku-Aku gasped as he watched, the beam striking the star and pulling it closer, altering its course towards the earth. "What is happening? This shouldn't be happening should it Chi'tk?"  
"I… I don't know…" Chi'tk panicked, her voice frantic, as they just stood watching.  
"Hey! Don't just sit around!" Crash cried, unable to help him-self. "Go see what it is!" Neither Aku-Aku nor Ember gave an answer and Crash tried to get their attention. "Hey! Did you hear me!"  
_This is but a memory Crash Bandicoot_, the Oracle boomed again. _They cannot see, hear or feel you, as you are just a visitor to their memories.  
_As they watched, the comet entered the atmosphere and Crash was stunned, stuck watching as was Aku-Aku and Ember.  
Finally, descending from the clouds was the comet's true form; a massive palace made entirely of crystal… Power Crystals even. Crash's jaw dropped as fragments broken off from the entry through the atmosphere was scattered the world over, explaining the birth of the Power Crystals around the world.  
"Is… Is this the legendary Crystal Palace?" Ember gasped, looking to the floating shrine in the sky, a massive structure of clear crystal. "The place of the box of..."  
Aku-Aku cut Ember off, when something appeared in the sky, a figure riding a dragon, towards the floating citadel from the location where the beam of energy drew the castle into the earth from outer space. "Uka-Uka! He must want the power of the Crystals to himself!"  
"No!" Ember gasped in horror. "If he gets there, he will claim the power that is yours, as that dragon will take what is mine!" At once, she offered her back to Aku-Aku, "Get on! We'll have to stop them ourselves before its too late!"  
Giving a nod, Aku-Aku leapt onto Ember's back as she launched herself from the cliff, Aku-Aku on her back as they raced towards the citadel.

Then again, the vision faded before Crash.

_Uka-Uka used the power of the Power Crystals that had been scattered on the Earth at its creation from the Crystal Comet to draw it towards the Earth, so he could claim ultimate power…  
__However, he failed and he, Aku-Aku, your friend Ember and her sister and the Ancient Ancestors all were cursed from the power of the Crystal Palace. How each was cursed, is up to you to find out. The Crystal Comet was lost again, and has never been seen since…  
__But there is more…  
_"More?" Crash asked, raising an eyebrow as a scene materialized around him.

Giving a scream of fright, Crash could not believe what he was seeing.  
The three islands were a smouldering, ash-covered inferno lit under a blood-red sky. The jungles were burnt to the ground, temples completely eradicated and bodies littered the ground. Animals of far and wide lay dead, burnt to ash or crushed or completely torn apart.  
As Crash flew over the Castle Island, the Castle was shattered, nothing remaining, but no bodies, or boats or anything. It seems that Cortex and his cronies had evacuated long before. But everything was gone, reduced to rumble and destruction. All the glory that Cortex had build for himself was nothing but an inferno of broken stone, twisted, melting steel and shattered earth.  
The Ruins Island was burnt to a crisp, liquid magma flowing down from the peak of the mountain, demolishing the jungle and liquefying the temples. Bodies of animals and dragons were scattered over, giving the reek of death from the rotting corpses.  
And finally, N. Sanity Island was too, burnt to the ground. The carcasses of Papu's tribe lay speckled over the landscape, rotting where they fell. And Brio's secret lab was torn apart. Crash gagged slightly as he saw what looked like the decapitated body of the doctor lying on the ground…

And finally, the final horror make Crash want to hurl, if he could have…  
His house remained unscathed. Outside, several metal pikes had been driven into the ground, the bodies of Coco, Crunch, Cassie, Tina, Polar, Pura, Scorch, Spark, Gleam, Ember, Spot and Delphi all impaled upon the staffs, looks of horror through their eyes as they were frozen in death, their corpses rotting…  
And finally, chained to the ground, begging and whimpering to the gods to just kill him, in the centre of the carnage field, was him-self, asked several years, fur all feral and messed up. Crash gasped in horror as he saw him-self chained to the ground, screaming out, "Just kill me! Get it over with!"  
Somewhere, the disembodied voice mixed of both Dr. Neo Cortex and Uka-Uka laughed. "Kill you? Death is a release bandicoot not a punishment. Why else grant you immortality and chain you to watch your friends slowly decompose around you?"  
The Crash of this time screamed, bashing his tear soaked face into the ground, begging and pleading, "Kill me! Please… just kill me…"  
"Oh my god…" Crash gasped as the scene dissolved about him. "I think I'm going to be sick…"  
_This, Crash Bandicoot_, the Oracle bellowed again. _Is what will happen, should you fail._

Then everything faded away and Crash landed in the cold, cold snow. "Huh?" Crash gasped as he realized he had been teleported to the top of the Icy Peak. He glanced about, recognizing this as the scene where he and Cassie had fought not long beforehand.  
"Hmm," hummed a voice behind Crash. "So… You've finally come…"  
As he turned around, Crash spotted the last cloak of the Femme Fatale lying in the snow, near a tree. Then, standing on the edge of the cliff, her long blonde hair blowing in the wind, standing still, her back to Crash as she snickered away…

Was the leader of the Femme Fatale.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty Two

Masterminds

"I don't believe this!" Brio roared as he threw himself to the computer screen to make sure he was reading right of the fragmented data that was slowly piecing back together. There had to be an error… There just had to be, as this information just couldn't be true!  
"Cassie!" Brio called as he turned about looking for her. "Cassie, you've got to… What are you doing?" Kneeling over, Cassie was tightening the laces to her shoes, she was wearing her transmitter and a determined look was upon the young bandicoot's face as she glanced to Brio. The scientist's eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared to her, "Where do you think you are going?"  
Tossing back of her locks of hair, Cassie smirked to Brio, "Out. I'm sick of sitting here doing nothing when the others are all out there risking their lives. Crash risked his neck to save me and he could be in danger him-self… I want in on the action sorry…"  
Brio's scowl remained as he pointed to the screen, "Data just came up for another one of the five experiments… And this one seems to be a true threat."  
"Oh? Like the greatest threat of a shape-shifting chameleon, or a dragon anthro that never grows weak… Oh, and what abut the sea-faring orca huh? Were they all not great threats?"  
"Not like this," Brio pointed to the screen once more. Tina, Polar and Pura all heard the commotion, coming running into the room, to watch. "Cortex could deal with the other three. But… But, he actually _feared _this experiment, because he succeeded too well…"  
"Let me guess," Cassie sighed, her patience reaching a fine point. "Some tremendous digging, planet-wrecking monster that causes volcanic eruptions?"  
"No…" Brio answered simply, his eyes flat. "He gave it intelligence and the power to deceive, plot and plan destruction of major operations. I have an IQ of 235, Cortex's was registered at 265… This creation was registered at 300… And it started to cause confusion and corruption in Cortex's ranks."  
"Big deal…" Cassie snapped as she made for the door. The moment her paw touched the handle, there was the sound of a gun cocking. Slowly turning about, Cassie saw Brio with a gun pointed at her, the safety catch removed.  
Brio frowned as he fought with himself at doing this. Cassie seemed to be like one of the other bandicoots and he wondered how they would react in this situation, but Brio only knew of this method. "I don't know if you are that experiment. If you are, we could all be duped by you right now… You will wait here until the species of this creature is decoded."  
Cassie scowled at Brio's action before snapping, "Are you really going to shoot me Brio?"  
The doctor seemed to shake some more, considering her question before finally throwing the gun down on the ground and sighing. He couldn't do it. He was near to accepting the simple fact that he was no longer evil, but rather a helper of the good and those in need. "Go…" he sighed, waving his arm.  
Nodding, Cassie turned the door knob and dashed out into the bright afternoon sunlight of the jungle. There were a few moments before Brio spoke up once more, "Polar… keep an eye on her…"  
"Yes sir!" the polar cub barked before he dashed out the door as well, hot on Cassie's heels.

--

_As long as this reality of death remains a possibility_, the Oracle's voice boomed in Crash's ears only. _This mark shall show you that you cannot rest…  
_Giving a yelp, Crash glanced down to his left palm as it smoked. Burnt into the flesh and glove was a mark; a mark that was without any doubt a skull. Crash stared at it for a few moments before the seductive voice from the cliff-face called again, "Are you going to ask who I am, or just sit there then bandicoot?"  
Glancing back up to the Femme Fatale captain, Crash witnessed the figure from behind. It was a mammal, red fur covering her thin body, a large bushy tail floating in the crisp icy winds. Her paws and legs were tipped with black fur, creating the illusion of gloves and boots, while the rest of her body was covered in tight purple elastic. A large cloud of blonde hair billowed out from her head, following the tail in the winds near the cliff face.  
Coughing slightly, Crash then barked, "So, you are the leader of the Femme Fatale? You don't look as…"  
A chill laugh came from the leader as she turned, revealing the canine snout. "As lethal? As powerful? As what Crash Bandicoot? One does not always become leader of a tribe through strength alone… No, I have all I need to lead up here…" tapping her head with her paw.  
Taking a step back, an instinct from deep within his memory of being an original bandicoot, this creature was one he remembered. A fox…  
Laughing at his reaction, the fox took a step forward to Crash, "Remember my species do you? Probably not directly, but I believe its down there somewhere… Deep within the bowels of your memories…"  
"What?" Crash blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"  
The fox rubbed her chin, "Well, despite the fact many of the experiments forgot their past lives, their instinctive fears and pleasures, I believe its still there, buried deep down… My friend Opalana is living proof that we animals of high intelligence retain much of our previous lives in here. You're just remembering that foxes _eat_ bandicoots," the vixen snickered, tapping her skull once more.  
Crash glowered, despite feeling an odd fear of dread and powerlessness to this fox. His instincts didn't register to the other predators, since they weren't natural predators of his species. But he remembered foxes somehow... He was just unsure how. "Who are you?" he demanded, clenching his fists.  
Tossing back a lock of her hair, the vixen murred lightly to Crash, "Vin. Vin Vixen's the name, and trust me Crash… You will remember my name… I severely doubt that we will end this here today… Though, no-ones perfect, now are they? After all, you are so hard trying to stop the plans of a madman, but do not even know of his true motives… Instead you follow the path that has been laid out for you, set up like a strategic game of Chess, where you are but a pawn on the board…"  
Growling, Crash scratched his head in confusion before he snapped to her, "Enough with riddles… Out with it! What is it that you are babbling about fox?"  
Sighing as she lent against a nearby tree, the fox smirked, "Oh… but I hate to be such a spoiler teller…" Vin smirked, flashing her teeth, causing Crash to take several back involuntarily. "But since you insist… Cortex never was expecting to collect all the crystals on his own for his plans you know. He planned to instead have you to locate them all, then his little bandicoot pet Cassie would… 'relive' of your two burdens. Both the crystals and your very existence…  
"Then, he would be free to conquer the world and universe as he pleased. No one would stand in his way, for you would be dead and he'd have the crystals. You see Crash Bandicoot, Cassie has been duping you from the start." Vin smirked slyly, holding up what appeared to be Crash's transmitter, which had been repaired slightly enough to run a little. "Want proof Crash? Here, you can see she's on her way to you now," Vin showed a small red dot approaching, indicating Cassie was on the boat to the island. "And you can even hear this little recording I managed to obtain just a little while ago too for more…"  
Pressing a button on the transmitter, a conversation begun between Cassie and Brio, with Cassie announcing she was leaving against Brio's wishes and Brio telling her she was to stay. Suddenly Cassie turned angry and there was some fighting noises, before she switched it off.  
Crash could feel a burning rage within him,. Had Cassie really duped him all this time, only to eventually kill him and take the Crystals? Was this vixen telling the truth? Could she be telling the truth or just lying and covering the facts to save her own tail?  
"Needless to say," Vin answered, swinging about, before hurling the transmitter from the cliff, "I'm much smarter than you. So smart even, I know I don't stand a chance against you in physical battle. You defeated Karma, meaning you can overcome deceit and illusion. You overcame Tyra, giving berth to you conquering raw muscle and you also thrashed poor Opalana… How could you be so heartless?" Vin's voice dripping with fake sympathy. "You can overcome being at a major disadvantage… I am impressed!  
"But if you can only beat Cortex by blundering your way as you have in the past, you stand no hope in beating me… I am far more superior to even that fool Neo and he knows it! In a battle of wits bandicoot, you would be well and truly sunk…"  
Crash's mind was swimming. Too much information, too fast… It was daunting and hard to cope with as Crash begun to wonder what… _She's trying to confuse me! Get me off guard!_ Crash suddenly thought. All the talking and such… she must be trying to pull a sneaky.  
"Forget it!" Crash ordered as he broke into a run to Vin. "I'll end this now!"  
It happened so fast, Crash screeched to a halt, moments as the plasma shot struck the snow, scorching and melting it. Vin spun the gun a few times in her paw before depositing it back into her holster in her purple jeans. "You almost shot me!" Crash gasped, shocked at how she was willing to kill him without a word.  
"Almost?" Vin laughed. "Crash my boy, I don't want you dead. Trust me, I'm an excellent shot. I practically never miss. Heck, you're actually **HELPING** me you know marsupial… Why kill you when you're helping me out?"  
Crash blinked, seriously confused.  
"While Cortex is all busy chasing you around the countryside, I am free! No more taking orders, no more doing this or that… I can be who I want to be…" Vin laughed. "I can be rich. I could be a hero, or a villain… I could be anything I want to be… My challenge was to fight you one-on-one? Fine, I forfeit. You win… Game over for the Femme Fatale… we lose!"  
"Then why are you harassing me for the Power Crystals?" Crash snapped.  
"Ah, yes… the crystals…" Vin nodded, crossing her paws over her chest. "We need them to sell, so we can buy certain… 'things' to survive and begin our new lives as free beings!"  
Crash frowned, "And if you had them?"  
Vin knelt before Crash, her eyes seeming full of truth, "We'd do anything that you wished of us…"  
Frowning again, unsure of his own thoughts, Crash asked, "You'd leave these islands, all four of you, and never return?"  
Vin placed her hand on her chest, "Cross my heart and hope to die…"  
Crash growled once more, "And you'd not be selling them to Cortex?"  
Laughing again, Vin snapped, "That fool? You think I'd give him the pleasure of _me_ being his messenger girl? Bah! Never!"  
Giving a deep sigh and hoping he wasn't making a mistake, he pointed to the direction of Ember's secret treasure stash, "There's a pile of crystals in the treasure stash down there… In a cave… It's hidden by some trees."  
"That's a good boy," Vin smiled widely to Crash. "Now, one last question… How many stars do you see?"  
"Huh?"  
The next thing Crash knew was reeling pain as a swift punch knocked him flying. Dazed and climbing to his feet, Crash glanced back, giving a yelp of fright. Tyra Tiamat slowly advanced, her eyes ablaze as she cracked her knuckles. To his left, there was a snicker as a small sapling melted away to reveal a sinister looking Karma, her tongue dancing about in anticipation. And to his right, Opalana slowly stalked from the trees, tears of anger and sadness in her eyes that lusted for revenge.  
"But… But…" Crash stammered as he turned his gaze to Vin who also approached. "I did what you told me… and you swore!"  
"Oh yes, I agreed we all would leave forever… I just never defined _when_! And remember, our games over since I forfeited, which means all the rules are gone… You're far too trusting bandicoot. You should haved just owned me when you had the chance." Vin's voice was now maniacal. And dark. "And here's the final insult to you bandicoot… We aren't going to deliver the crystals to Cortex. We're going to deliver them to Uka-Uka! Why let that foolish bandicoot take the glory, when we can be the favourites of the most powerful being in the universe?"  
Crash growled and snarled, glancing to each advancing member. "You tricked me!"  
"Exactly Crash!" Vin clapped. "You just learnt what I was created for! To deceive and trick people into getting what Cortex wants! Not all the greatest weapons will be determined by strength… And guess what? You failed the final challenge of the Femme Fatale... A battle up here," Vin snickered lightly away to herself for a moment, tapping her head again. "But I'll make you one true promise Crash Bandicoot… should you ever survive… I will duel you fairly. No deceptions. I'll owe that much to you…"  
Snarling, Crash snapped to Vin, "You think letting Cortex enslave planet by planet will work? I seriously doubt it will you know!"  
Vin snorted slightly, before it erupted into a cackle of mad laughter. She pointed, laughing to Crash, "You seriously believe that rot about the Cortex Vortex reflecting from the moon and enslaving everyone! You truly are hopeless bandicoot! How can you hope to ever defeat Cortex if you don't even know what his plan truly is!"  
"What? What is his plan?" Crash barked, suddenly realizing that this had to be at least one true thing that the vixen was saying.  
"Ah yes," Vin wagged her finger to Crash. "But since I hate giving spoilers, this one is all too delicious to tell you. You'll have to find it out… Err, well, you could have. If it wasn't for the fact in which we have to kill you right now!"  
Crash glanced to the circle around him of the angry Femme Fatale members, knowing the time for talk was now clearly over. One on one, they were hard enough, but all four?  
"It's over!" roared Tiamat as all four members charged Crash, fists raised…

As the bandicoot's screams were lost in the icy winds…


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty Three

Faith and Trust

Leaping from the boat the moment it hit the shore, Cassie broke into a sprint, ignoring the cries of the white bear cub tailing her. "Hey! Cassie! Hold up!" Polar shouted as he pursued her, kicking up sand from the shores with his paws.  
Turning, Cassie snapped back, "Look Polar, just hurry up! I don't like what I'm feeling and I think something bad has happened. We've got to find Crash as soon as we can!"  
Panting as he drew up to her, the cub scowled, "Sure, of course we need to help the others. But do you even know where Crash is?"  
Cassie's snarl melted away at that comment; she truly had no idea where Crash was.  
Instead there was a cackle from the woods as a quartet of Cortex's experiments wandered down the path to the gondola. There was a fox grinning madly at the front, while a chameleon and sad looking orca followed her. Bringing the rear was a large dragon, her arms full of crystals. "Looking for your darling bandicoot are you little rat?"  
Snarling back, Cassie snapped, "Who are you and what have you done?!"  
Chuckling, the chameleon hissed, "What a tongue! Maybe we should teach you a lesson!" as like a whip the long tongue in her mouth cracked like a whip, knocking Cassie to her feet and dragging her closer. "Just like we did before," snickered Karma as her form melted away to reveal one of Crash for a moment, before fading back into that of a chameleon.  
"Let me go!" Cassie thrashed out with her fists in vain.  
Giving a bark, Polar charged before Vin spun around, kicking the bear in the face and sending him flying, the cub yelping in pain, "Back off mutt! You stay out of this!" Vin warned as she turned her attention to Cassie once more. "Now there little darling, we did as we were asked… Disposed of that mindless marsupial. You want what's left of him? Go check the peak before the snow buries him for good…"  
Then, with a barked laugh, Karma tossed Cassie aside and the four wandered off alone. Shaking her head clear, Cassie glanced up in time to see them helping themselves to the boat she'd used. "Hey! Wait!" she called out, to no avail as the boat was kicked off the shore, and sailed towards Castle Cortex, the sun's last lights beginning to fade.  
"Forget them Cassie!" Polar cried out, motioning to the path. "If Crash is up there, we've got to find him before it gets too dark to see anything!"  
"But… But…" Cassie protested before nodding to Polar. "You're right… Let's get up there fast!"

--

Coco shuddered as another loud clap of thunder boomed about her. Clutching the castle walls, Coco knew it wasn't long before the gale force winds, rain and lightning all surrounded her. She had to get off this service route soon, or else she risked facing the storm's fury up here.  
_This is no normal storm_, Coco frowned as she watched the looming blackness of the dark clouds, blocking out the last of the dying sun. Could it be possible that she would never see sunrise?  
Shaking her head in fret, Coco refused to let her-self believe that.  
She would get down and she would…  
Pausing as she faintly heard something, Coco glanced down below, peering from the ledge. Down below were several of Cortex's army, many looking battered and sore. A blackened Dingodile growled as he sat on a rock, Koala Kong winced as he paced about, large bandages across his butt, while N. Trance glared about, laying in pieces in a crate. And there were more, the Komodo brothers, Ripper Roo, Pinstripe, Tiny and many more all pacing about a small plateau. They seemed to be waiting for something.  
Taking a gamble, Coco looked about, seeing a lower ledge. Praying she didn't miss, she swung her-self down from the higher ledge. Landing safely, there was a small crumbling as some small portion of the platform crumbled beneath her as she landed.  
Jumping to the side, and biting her tongue, Coco feared she'd been discovered.  
"Aye? What's that?" Dingodile barked.  
"It'sss nothing," Joe hissed in anger. "Thisss cassstle isss falling apart. That'sss all."  
"Tiny hurt…"  
"We all ya, so quit ya whinin'," Dingodile growled to Tiny. "How much bloomin' longer 'til the transport arrives do ya think?"  
"Shouldn't be too long," Pinstripe sighed, massaging his sore head.  
"Hey! Could someone put me back together here or something?" N. Trance snapped from his box, only to be completely ignored.  
"Well, you know, we gotta get outta here," Joe hissed, his voice a snicker. "After Cortex completesss hisss plan, there won't be much left of thessse god-foresssaken islandsss. I'll be glad to sssee the lassst of them!"  
Coco frowned, she didn't like what she was hearing at all. She wanted to hear more when suddenly, "My uncle has ordered all of you one thing," the voice of Nina Cortex. "You are to all now head down to the dock. The boat is waiting there and will set sail in a little while. In the meantime, if you happen to see any of the bandicoots, crush them! They have proved their usefulness and are no longer needed. This charade is now over. Feel free to do what you want to them."  
"Tiny crush puny bandicoots!"  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever mate," Dingodile shrugged to Tiny. "Good luck and all that there rot. You couldn't crush a fly let alone them there bandicoots!"  
"Tiny stupid not! Maybe Tiny crush you!"  
"Bring it on, moron!"  
Sighing as it erupted into what sounded like a large argument, Coco realized she wouldn't get much else out of this. It was time for her to get back to her computer and find out for her-self. Crawling along the ledge, Coco looked for a way to enter the dungeons of the castle. She needed to get to shelter quickly, or this storm was about to get violent and rough…

--

Brio's jaw dropped as he read the information on the screen.  
"Can… Could this… Is that…" he babbled, unable to think of what he was currently reading on the computer's screen, the data next to a photograph of Cassie, detailing her origins, purpose and abilities. Brio's eyes ran over time and time again, to make sure he was reading this right.  
Tina and Pura were also reading the screen, both equally stunned. Then suddenly, Tina turned to her leg, investigating the wound that had been infected with Black Spate.  
"I think it's true…" the dinosaur admitted.  
"Unbelievable…" Brio mouthed, his eyes surprised.

--

Groaning as he opened his eyes, his body feeling cold and weak, Crash shivered slightly, "So… c-c-cold… Who… Whose there?"  
Glancing about weakly, Crash noticed he was now in a small cave, resting against a wall, a small fire at his feet, warming up the cavern, while something warm and heavy was resting in his lap. There was a faint taste of blood in his mouth and several parts of his body ached as he attempted to move. Ears twitching, Crash became aware of a violent coughing and hacking nearby.  
"Crash! You're awake!" barked Polar as the bear perked up from his lap, getting up and moving to Crash's side.  
"Polar?" Crash blinked in confusion, before wincing at a twinge in his neck. "Where am I? And what's going on here?" But before Polar was able to answer, Crash's eyes fell upon Cassie, knelt over nearby, coughing and spluttering badly. "You!" Crash snapped, climbing to his feet and ignoring the pain. Crash glared, remembering Vin's words…  
Was the fox telling the truth? Or had it been another lie?  
Crash couldn't tell.  
Cassie couldn't answer as she erupted into another fit of hacking, but her hurt eyes glanced to Crash for a second, confused and worried.  
"Hey, back off Crash…" Polar pleaded. "Cassie just saved your life by almost giving hers!"  
"Huh?" Crash blinked in even more confusion. She'd almost killed her-self, saving him? "She did?" Crash grimaced slightly. "How exactly?"  
"I'm… I'm a…" Cassie barked several harsh coughs. "A healer… Cortex created me to… heal his other experiments… by giving my own… life to them…" Cassie seemed to sway for a moment before Crash caught her, helping her up.  
"It's true…" another voice murmured. Aku-Aku floated above the scene, watching over. "She and Polar found you, an inch from death. They summoned me and Cassie requested the help from me to heal you. She fed her own life-force into you, near killing her-self to save you Crash… Without me for her to fall upon and hold her alive for those moments for her to regain her life force, Cassie would have died bringing you back from the brink of death…"  
Crash was in awe, as he turned to Cassie again, who had stopped coughing, and was now wheezing and puffing. "T-thank you Cassie… You… saved me?"  
"It's… what friends do… right?" Cassie smiled lightly to Crash. Then she frowned, "I'm… a freak. I'm not like… you or Coco… I'm different…"  
Crash helped Cassie up, supporting her as the younger bandicoot climbed to her shaky legs. "We're all different. Everyone's different. It's what makes me Crash, and you Cassie."  
"But I have this… this curse…" Cassie frowned as her hands glowed blue before Crash, expressing her power to heal.  
Smiling back to her, Crash answered, "It's not about the gift Cassie… It's how you _use_ it that matters in the end… If you use it to help your friends, its not a curse, but your gift."  
Giving a slight giggle, Cassie smiled back, "Thanks Crash… I'm… I'm sorry I got you roped into this…"  
Crash said nothing as he let Cassie take a few shaky steps, getting her footing back. He didn't need to say anything more. Vin's words were lies; Cassie no longer held an alliance to Cortex. She was well and truly now, part of the family.  
"I fear being the bringer of news of burden," Aku-Aku sighed, as a loud crack of thunder was heard outside the cave, the light illuminating the dark maw of the cave and the floating mask. "But a storm is brewing and Cortex has the Crystals. Time is short, my children. We must act and we must act quickly…"  
"Right," Crash nodded, ignoring the pain. He'd get over that soon enough. "I need to get over to that island and find Coco again. Polar, can you take Cassie back to--"  
"Fat chance!" Cassie snapped. "I'm not sitting out of this one again! I've hung around Brio's lab long enough while you all risk your necks. It's time I helped out too…"  
Crash lifted an eye-brow, "You sure you're up to it Cassie?"  
Clenching her paw into a fist, Cassie glowered, "What do you think? Besides, I want to give Cortex my share of hell as well for duping me…"  
There was a smug silence for a few moments before, "I have another matter to attend to. Something of great importance," Aku-Aku nodded to them. "You will find a boat down at the dock and I shall leave this in your paws my children. Do your best to prevent disaster befalling us all…"  
_You have no idea…_ Crash thought grimly to himself as he glanced to his paw, the skull marking still burnt strong into the palm. _I hope we can prevent it as well…_


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Four

Reunited

Coco cowered for a moment, covering her ears as a loud crack and boom followed the sizzle of the lightning far above her. She was nearing the base of the castle finally and hopefully with some luck, she'd be able to slip out unnoticed.  
Leaping to a newer stone, glancing down below at the sharp impaling stones that surrounded most of the castle, Coco marvelled at how she'd managed to escape and climb down this ancient pathway back up the castle. It had been remotely accessible by Crash on his first ever mission against Cortex, but now since that first battle, the castle's path had fallen into ruin, crumbling and breaking apart.  
Of course, Crash blowing up half the castle hadn't helped much either…  
Passing a window, sealed heavily with iron bars, Coco cast it no notice at first, walking on past, near the thin ledge. Suddenly, there was a gruff, "Coco!" and a face appeared at the window.  
Giving a yelp, Coco stumbled back in fright, her arms suddenly flailing as she treaded thin air.  
Reaching through the bars, a burly arm snagged Coco's, holding her tight. The rough face of Crunch gave her a mock glower, "Don't do that…" he advised her as he lifted her back onto the ledge.  
"Oh Crunch!" Coco praised as she was lifted to the ledge again, "Am I ever so glad to see you!"  
"Yeah," Crunch smiled from the other side of the bars as he gave them a heave, hoping to dislodge them and pull Coco inside. They were stuck in place fast, and even Crunch's power was unable to move them. "Hmm, Doesn't look good from here," Crunch pondered as he stepped away from the bars.  
Coco looked the bars over to see if there was a weak point somewhere, but the bars were enforced pretty tight. "I don't think you'll be able to move these bars off Crunch," Coco stated, pondering for a moment before the skies lit up again with a flash and the boom of the storm began to approach faster. "I'm not far from the bottom," Coco pointed towards the entrance to the castle. "I'll be there within a few minutes, if you could get down there to open the doors?"  
"Sure thing," Crunch gave Coco the thumbs up.  
"Cool," Coco beamed, then added, "Then I'll need help getting my laptop back Crunch… Cortex has some strange information about a place called the--" Coco was cut off as another crack of thunder roared about them. "I'll tell you more afterwards…" Coco pointed down.  
"Be right there," Crunch nodded.  
Racing for the base, the winds beginning to pick up and howl as Coco hurried down. Rung after rung of the final ladder, Coco's feet finally touched the ground as the small bandicoot tapped her feet happily. She gave a whirl on the spot for a moment.  
There was a sudden impact behind Coco and she made a move to spin about, but a thick hairy arm grabbed Coco by the throat, holding her tight as it forced her against a leathery chest. "Hoo hoo hoo," her captor chuckled in a deep voice. "Me got good! I get you good!" as suddenly the large feet kicked off, propelling the mutant and his prisoner into the air, several feet in a large bound.  
Giving a shriek as they came crashing down near the main doors to the castle, Coco squirmed at the arm wrapped about her throat, pulling at it with her paws. "Let me go Rilla Roo!" as she glanced at the fat gorilla and kangaroo hybrid from the corner of her eye. The strong upper torso of a gorilla was attached to the lower half of a kangaroo, big red breeches wrapping about the rotund belly of the freak.  
"Hoo hoo hoo! Me take you to Cortex! Rilla get big promotion!" the gorilla chuckled darkly, a mad glint in his green eyes.  
With a crash, the doors flew open and Crunch glared to the gorilla that held Coco tight. His ears folding down as his lip curled, Crunch snarled as he pointed his metal finger, "Let her go you freak!"  
Coco gave a shout as Rilla tightened his grip, crushing her against his body. "Rilla has her! I kill her! Stay there or break her."  
Clenching his teeth, Crunch glowered at the stale-mate. He couldn't risk charging Rilla Roo; the gorilla was strong enough to snap her neck in two without even trying. Yet he couldn't just wait here until Cortex and his cronies came along…  
"Right," the larger bandicoot snapped to Rilla Roo, as he lifted his metal gauntlet with three fingers. "I'm gonna give yer to the count of three to let her go, or else bad things are gonna happen…"  
Rilla Roo snarled lightly, still clutching Coco tightly.  
"Crunch! Don't!" Coco snapped, her voice high and afraid.  
"One…"  
Rilla Roo tightened his grip around Coco more, causing Coco to gasp for air.  
"Two…"  
"THREE!" shouted two voices as suddenly as two figures came flying in from the side, connecting with Rilla's skull with a simultaneous kick.  
"Huh?" Rilla Roo reeled as he stumbled slightly, dropping Coco who wasted no time moving aside as Crunch charged forward, slamming the face of the gorilla with his metal fist. "Oooerr…" he stumbled about for a few moments, his huge feet flopping about, before he finally toppled over with a thud.  
Turning, Crunch and Coco glanced to see the familiar face of Crash giving them the thumbs-up and another of Cassie, slightly shuffling her feet and looking down. "Right on cue, eh buddy?" Crash asked Crunch with a laugh.  
"You cut it a little thin there mate," Crunch grinned back, before he frowned, "And I notice you have this little tramp with you," he pointed accusingly to Cassie, who cowered slightly.  
"Take it easy Crunch," Coco coughed out as she took to her own feet. "She's on our side."  
"Still doesn't mean she had the right to kick me in the family jewels," Crunch grumbled to himself.  
Sighing, Cassie spoke up, "Look, I'm sorry. I've said it plenty of times and I don't mind saying it again… But I honestly thought you were all the bad guys."  
"Don't sweat it," Crunch growled, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "I know what that's like… I just have a bit of a hard time letting things like that go…"  
Crash smiled to Cassie, "As he said, don't sweat it. We're all your friends and you've proven yourself a valuable ally." Cassie gave a weak, but true smile.  
Another clap of thunder erupted as the sky flashed. Speaks of rain were beginning to spit upon the ground lightly, forecasting the impending downpour yet to come. The four bandicoots looked to one another; their leader, Crash, decked up, calm and cool and ready to go. Coco, tossing her hair back, the brains to the operation, whilst Crunch flexed his metal paw lightly, the brawn, and finally Cassie, new and rookie to the group, but ready to prove her worth. After a few quick exchanging of stories, each member of the group was up to speed of the tale of the others.  
"Right," Coco began, explaining what she knew. "We know that Cortex has that new weapon that is powered by Crystals…"  
"And Cortex has all the Crystals thanks to the Femme Fatale," Crash added, a glare in his eyes.  
"Right," Coco agreed. She pointed to the top of the castle. "In some of the fragmented data I recovered, I discovered there was work done to the roof of the castle. It now opens up apparently…"  
"So you'd think the weapon would be near the top?" Cassie asked.  
"Makes sense," Crunch agreed with the little girl.  
"Yes, that's right. But there's still some more details that do not make sense. What's this deal of this 'Crystal Palace'? Or this convergence the dolphins and dragons are speaking of?" Coco continued. "Could it be a coincidence? I don't think so…"  
"Me neither…" Crash nodded in agreement. "The Femme Fatale slipped that Cortex's plans weren't what they seemed… But, I was told that by Vin, and she's been proven to be a liar…"  
The four considered their position, the skies darkening and crashing.  
Finally, Coco spoke up. "I think it would be best if we all split up into two groups. Two of us should lay assault on the castle and try to stop that weapon of Cortex's. The other two need to head back into the factory," Coco pointed to the facility across the bridge. "To retrieve my laptop. It may hold some very valuable information."  
"If you're gonna attack the castle," Crunch glowered lightly. "You'll need me. I can rip apart most of the door locks in that place."  
"And me," Crash nodded to the two girls. "I know the castle like the back of my paw…" Crash outstretched his paw.  
"Crash?" Coco asked, looking at his paw. "What's that on your hand?"  
Quickly hiding the paw, Crash answered, "Nothing. I just burnt the paw when I flew on Ember." He didn't want to tell them what he'd seen. It was far too horrific.  
Cassie frowned, unsure, keeping her expression on Crash as Coco nodded, "Right. Then Cassie and I will head for the laptop. I'll also try to disarm those two mechs that were being built."  
"Sounds good…" Crash grinned as he placed his other paw in the centre of the group. "So what do you all say we rock and roll Cortex's plot once more?"  
"As always there, little brother," Crunch smirked, placing his metal paw on top of Crash's.  
Coco placed her paw on top of Crunch's and answered, "And I'll always be here to nag you both."  
With a little hesitation, Cassie placed her paw onto Coco's and added, "And I'll come along for the ride."  
"Welcome to the party," Coco smiled to Cassie as the four of them held their paws in place for a moment, before giving a shout, throwing their hands into the air.

"Let's give Cortex one hell of a show!" Crash grinned, raising his eyebrow.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five  
Factory Beat

"N. Gin!" Cortex roared into the communicator. He knew it. He just knew it that Crash was in the castle from the moment there had been an explosion in the lab below. And the alarm warnings from the factory indicated some of them had entered the fatory. "N. Gin! Where are you?"  
The answer came through the static speaker, whining, "Yes, Dr. Cortex. I am here!"  
"N. Gin, the bandicoots are attacking!" Cortex roared into the receiver, enraged, a vein twitching above his eye. "I do hope those mechs of yours are ready!"  
There was a chuckle from the speaker, "Yes Dr. Cortex. The SwiftStryke is 100 operational, and engines operating at 110 percent! The Neonator has been completed and is completing its charge. It will be operational in approximately 25 minutes."  
Grabbing his hair from the sides of his head, Cortex had to resist the temptation to rip it out. The doctor growled and groaned, before releasing his hair, breathing deeply as he turned behind him, to a figure lazing behind him. "Hey!" Cortex roared as he pointed accusingly. "Who gave you permission to enter here?"  
Snickering, the intruder continued leaning in the chair, twirling his tuning fork in his metallic arm. "It would seem Uka-Uka has lost a little faith in you my dear Cortex," Dr. N. Tropy sneered.  
"Rubbish!" Cortex snapped, glaring at N. Tropy as he pointed his finger accusingly at the master of time. "If you are so worried about pleasing Uka-Uka, why don't you help slow those bandicoots down then?"  
Laughing as he stood up, the power suit of Tropy chugging away as the tall man towered over Cortex, Tropy snapped, "You want me to waste my time with those little rats? As if I'd ever…" Tropy paused as he watched the screen, it showed for a few moments Crash and Crunch tearing down the hallways of the castle, Crunch smashing away the doors. N. Tropy rubbed his chin for a few moments in consideration. "On second thought, I have all the time in the world for that brute. I believe its time for his final hour to be up…"  
"Good," Cortex snapped to N. Tropy. He pointed to the door, "Meet them in the Great Hall. And if you know what's good for both of us, you'll end this little game once and for all."  
"Whatever…" N. Tropy shrugged as he walked out of the room, completely disregarding the little scientist as he clanked out of the room, to the Great Hall.  
"Dr. Cortex! Dr. Cortex!" N. Gin's voice whined through the speaker as the room light up through the window, the wind and rain beginning to pelt against the glass. "There are intruders in the factory. There are…"  
There was a small scuffle before a calmer voice snapped, "It seems Uncle, that two of those fuzz-balls have found their way into the factory. I do believe they may want to stop the mechs, since one of them appears to be that brainy blonde…"  
"Coco!" Cortex slammed his fist in anger. That was the last thing he needed. "Get those mechs all powered up and ready to go… We've wasted too much time. It's time we got this show on the road!"  
"Yes uncle!" There, was a clunk and the sound of N. Gin whining as Nina Cortex snapped, "Get over it and to work… Over and out!"  
"Cute kid," smirked a voice at the door. Turning, his eyes furious, Cortex glowered to Vin Vixen as the fox waltzed into the room, a swanky step to her paws. The fox snickered a little to Cortex as she added, "You're way too hyped about this Cortex… Ease up. So what if the bandicoots stop the mechs? You should still be able to use the power of the crystals long before they get a chance to make an effort to the tower. Everything is going to plan…"  
Cortex glowered for a few moments, before he huffed a growling sigh. He glowered back up to Vin, before snapping, "Maybe so, but it still gives you no excuse to waltz on into my command room like this! What is it that makes you so special?"  
"Oh nothing much," Vin tilted her paw, glancing at her claws. "Just that I found a few errors in your database that could help you out…"  
Tilting his head, Cortex answered, "Oh?"  
"Yeah, it seems those bandicoots have been able to hack into your files again," Vin grabbed Cortex's arm, tugging him along. "Let me show you how to encode them further…"  
Groaning, Cortex reluctantly began to follow the fox as she led him out the door. At the last moment, Vin turned back and gave a wink with her now slatted eyes, at the shadowy figure outside the window, illuminated by the strike of the lightning.

Peering about the corner slightly, spotting the Lab Assistants walking by patrolling, Coco motioned to Cassie, instructing her to come closer. Her back against the steel walls, the lights flickering lightly above, and the whines of the machinery all about them, Coco was right on the pathway for the computer control room of Cortex's factory, and Cassie was right behind her.  
"Right," Coco hissed lightly to Cassie. "We need to head down this corridor I believe."  
Cassie nodded back to Coco, before adding, "What about those mechs?"  
Coco gave a thought for a moment, placing her paw to her chin in wonder. "Good point… Do you know much about computers at all? I don't suppose so?"  
Cassie grinned meekly, shrugging, "I know how to turn one on… After that, I'm kinda limited."  
Frowning, Coco growled, "Well, I guess that means that you'll need to get the laptop. I'll need to try to deactivate those mechs."  
Casting another glance, Coco spotted the androids had moved on. She nodded to Cassie as she leapt up, dashing towards the passage way ahead. Coco remembered this; it was the pathway above where the mechs had been built.  
As they dashed across, Coco gave a slight gasp, leaning to the side of the overhang. The humanoid mech was now completed. It was very much like the mech she'd fought before in the future, when Uka-Uka had been first released. Its weapons were finished, paint job complete and power cables charging it's energy up. It was shocking to see the progress that had happened in only a few short hours.  
"Cortex can't be taking any chances this time," Coco gasped, looking as Cassie walked past her, moving down the passage a bit more, seemingly a little uninterested in the mech. Then, Coco pointed to the empty space beside it, she called out, "Hey! Where's the other mech?"  
"Coco! Look out!" Cassie shrieked as there was a mechanical hiss, Coco spinning about in fear as a large metal tail swung right at her.  
There was no time to react as it slammed in to the pathway, shattering the metal and rocking the metal overhang, Cassie giving a shriek as she gripped the rail, holding tight as it began to splinter and fall away, its supports severely weakened now as it trembled dangerously.  
Coco gave a scream, clutching the tail as tight as she could with her paws could. Coco felt a shudder as the tail lifted, to reveal the entire mech, the snake like one, in full flight. Two figures were in the cockpit, as the twin turbine engines twisted about, keeping the robot airborne. It's razor blades were now spinning and Coco sensed a warmth against her chest. Realizing she was hugging one of the many blasters upon the machine's tail, she swung her leg about, moving to the back of the tail and attempting to move further up it.  
Then there was a loud cackle from the loudspeaker as Dr. N. Gin's whiny voice growled, "One rat down! One to go!" accompanied by the cruel laugh of Nina Cortex.  
Coco's eyes at once glanced about, fearing for Cassie, who was frozen in fear at the sight of this metal viper before her. It dawned on Coco then; they didn't know she was still on the tail. She locked eyes with Cassie as she mouthed to her, _RUN!  
_Cassie didn't need to be told twice as she turned tail and headed for the door. Coco hoped she'd be get there safely as she clutched the tail as the whirr of the machine gun rattled loudly, blasting shots at Cassie's feet, the young girl dashing into the passageway at the end of the overhang, bullets bouncing off the metal walkway, causing the last of it to crumble away.  
Still attempting to climb the mech's tail, Coco found a panel with a hand rung to the side of it near the top of the robot's tail. Wrapping her arm about the rung, she tore the panel open. There was a small box of circuits and wires. She was about to rip a couple open when the mech shuddered, Coco almost losing her grip as she clutched that rung for dear life.  
Another hiss and she heard Nina's actual voice, "Take the mech to my Uncle! I'll deal to that little skunk!" There was a metal cling as Coco saw Nina's arms shoot out, grasping the last of the walkway and hauling herself down towards the passage. 'Don't turn back, don't turn back,' she prayed, knowing Nina would spot her if she did.  
And thankfully, she didn't, instead racing straight after Cassie.  
Coco had to resist an urge to scream as the mech gave another roar from its engines, lifting up. An opening in the roof opened as the robot flew through it. It was now or never, Coco knew as she grabbed several wires from the panel and kicked herself from the run, towards the roof of Cortex's factory. With a crash and tumble, Coco landed hard on the metal ground, a few cuts and scrapes underneath her fur.  
She glanced above to see the lights in the tail flicker once, twice and then go out. There was a loud crash of thunder as the sky lit up for a moment. And then it started to rain heavily.  
"What?!" N. Gin roared in anger, as suddenly the tail malfunctioned, dying on him. He twisted his head to look towards the roof. And there, trying to escape was Coco…  
_Cortex can wait!_ N. Gin growled to himself as he piloted the mech back around towards the fleeing bandicoot…  
_This time Coco… You're mine!_

Crunch slammed the door with his fist, the metal lock shattering as the door swung open. At once, several Lab Assistant androids charged toward Crunch as he nabbed Crash by the scruff of the neck, throwing the smaller bandicoot towards the androids as Crash ripped him-self into a spinning torpedo.  
"Strike!" Crunch roared as all the robots were bowled over.  
Crash gave his dizzy head a shake as he climbed back to his feet. The robots were only out for a few moments, and Crunch grabbed Crash, picking him up to his feet as the two dashed ahead, before the robots could get back up to attack them.  
"The Great Hall's up ahead," Crash told Crunch as he pointed ahead. "After that, we just need to go up one more floor and…"  
"Not so fast!" ordered a voice as they charged into the massive hall. Skidding to a halt, Crash noticed the door was coated in some sort of purple flame. Glancing back to the door they'd entered, it two was covered in that same flame.  
The Great Hall was a large room, paintings of Cortex plastering the walls, a large table in the centre of the room expressed where Cortex housed his meetings. It had been rebuilt since Crash blew up the castle years ago. The walls lit up from the large windows near the top of the room with the clap of thunder, as the howling winds also gave way to the intense pelting of the rain.  
"What's the hurry? You have all the time in the world to deal to me first!" snapped a disembodied voice as Dr. N. Tropy faded into appearance, sneering down at the two bandicoots. "Sorry boys, but the party ends here…" his blue face sneering smartly, his facial hair twisted delightfully on his mug.  
Crunch glowered to N. Tropy, growling angrily at how he'd been attacked what seemed like ages ago but the Master of Time. He was ready for his revenge. But then, he had to deal with this Crystal problem as well… Crash would have to go on without him somehow…  
Glancing above the door with the purple flames where they needed to head, Crunch growled to Crunch, "Sorry there buddy, but you're going without me from here."  
"Huh?" Crash turned to Crunch as the bigger bandicoot grabbed him. "Hey! What-are-ya-doing?"  
With a mighty swing of his paw, Crunch sent Crash flying, Crash yelling as he flew, crashing through the stained glass window of Cortex as Crash disappeared from view into the next room en route to Cortex's final lab, free to continue on without Crunch.  
"Ah, no matter about that roadkill," Tropy scorned he turned to Crunch, pointing his tuning fork to the bandicoot. "You're the one that I want…"  
Cracking his knuckles, his ears flattening against his skull as his eyebrows curled dangerously, Crunch glowered, "Bring… it… on…"


End file.
